A blink of an eye, a stone in the fire, a dream in the body…

In the nameless echo, Chen Ji didn’t know how long he had been wandering in the darkness, as if trekking through a glacier for a century, unable to disperse the fog before his eyes.

But this darkness also seemed to last only for a moment, like the sparks that burst when stones strike each other, so brief.

Chen Ji couldn’t control his body, could only listen.

The sound of wind, the sound of rain, even the sound of oars rowing on the water, as if someone was using a small boat, carrying him through a sea of black clouds.

Chen Ji wanted to break through the darkness, but everything around him was thick like glue, making it impossible for him to struggle free.

Outside the darkness, someone suddenly spoke in a relaxed tone: “Master Zhou, without full certainty, we wouldn’t have come to your door ourselves. The moment you see us, either you cooperate well and help us catch the Jing Chao spies in Luo City, or we’ll make you wish you were dead. There are no other options.”

Then, a middle-aged person angrily said: “I don’t know what crime I’ve committed to have you two great killers come to my residence. I don’t know any Jing Chao spies!”

The relaxed voice from before said: “On the 27th of last month, you invited Supervisor Li to drink at the Ming Zhu Yuan in Bai Yi Lane, East Market. At the banquet, you redeemed the girl Cui Huan from Ming Zhu Yuan and gifted her to him. However, this girl Cui Huan is precisely a Jing Chao spy, and she has already implicated you… I don’t need to continue, do I?”

“What does the girl Cui Huan being a spy have to do with me? I had no dealings with her before!”

“You want proof?”

“Yes!”

Inside the room, a girl laughed: “When our secret spy department kills a spy, when do we need proof?”

The interrogated Master Zhou no longer spoke. The room fell silent, only the sound of heavy breathing remained.

Inside the room, porcelain was shattered all over the floor, and the antique shelf for placing decorations was also broken, like a scene of ruins.

Among the ruins, seven or eight corpses lay twisted, with only one middle-aged man slumped on the ground, his hair disheveled and looking wretched.

In front of him, a young man wearing neat black tight clothing had a relaxed and playful demeanor. Not far away, there was also a graceful figure of a girl in black squatting on a grand master’s chair watching the show.

These two people in black, a man and a woman, looked to be only around twenty years old, yet they had killed a room full of people.

In the darkness, Chen Ji suddenly felt as if these voices were like a hand, grabbing hold of him who was sinking into the abyss, pulling him back from hell to the human world.

“Master Zhou, which other colleagues do you have in Luo City? It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to tell the truth now, we still have a whole night to waste,” the young man said with a smile: “Wait a moment, we’ll bring your hidden family in Chai Mu Lane, then we’ll see if you’re willing to talk…”

The next moment.

Inside the room, a corpse suddenly sat up!

Hiss!

Chen Ji suddenly breathed, like a drowning person who had regained new life, greedily inhaling. His breathing sound in the quiet was particularly harsh, breaking the stuffiness of the room.

Chen Ji sat up from the floor, only feeling dizzy and confused.

He subconsciously touched the knife wound on his waist, but there was nothing there.

The girl squatting on the grand master’s chair suddenly turned her head: “Eh, Yun Yang, your technique is clumsy. How can you kill someone and not kill them completely?”

Yun Yang argued: “Impossible, it must be that his heart was crooked!”

“You missed, so you missed, why lose face?”

“Then what should we do?”

“Just kill him again.”

At this moment, there were too many questions in Chen Ji’s heart: why had he been reborn, and where had he been reborn to, could he still find his way home? If even something as miraculous as rebirth could happen, could his relatives still be reunited with him?

He opened his eyes: “Wait, I have something to say…”

As soon as the words fell, footsteps sounded outside, drawing everyone’s attention.

More than ten men wearing the same black tight clothing were seen pushing seven or eight people into the courtyard, including two children about eight or nine years old, one boy and one girl.

Taking advantage of this gap, Chen Ji quickly surveyed the surroundings: the room wasn’t big, on the left was a mahogany desk, in the middle were two grand master’s chairs and a table.

Books, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were scattered everywhere, the floor a mess.

Crossed over?

Is this the dream world that Li Qing Niao mentioned?

He seemed to have crossed into the body of someone who had just died, but he didn’t know the identity of the deceased in their previous life.

Chen Ji really wanted to stop and think about his situation, but the crisis in front of him happened too quickly, simply not giving him any opportunity to think.

While thinking, the more than ten men in black tight clothing pushed Master Zhou’s hidden family to their knees on the ground. One of them cupped his fist and reported: “Master Zhou Cheng Yi’s hidden family has all been brought here. This woman was redeemed by him from Bai Yi Lane ten years ago, and the two children are their flesh and blood, one boy and one girl. The people on the side are the housekeeper and maidservants.”

These more than ten men in black had stern faces, and each had a sheathed long knife hanging behind their waists.

Yun Yang squatted down in front of the woman with a smile: “Madam, do you know about Master Zhou being a Jing Chao spy?”

The woman tightly hugged the little boy in her arms, shaking her head in fear: “I don’t know, we don’t know anything!”

Yun Yang drew a slender silver needle from his sleeve and stabbed it into the woman’s chest like lightning. The woman didn’t make a sound, and slumped to the ground.

Dead.

A crying sound filled the room, and the housekeeper asked in a hoarse voice: “Master, what is this matter, ah master?!”

Master Zhou Cheng Yi didn’t answer, only looked at the scene with a gloomy face.

Yun Yang looked at him, then squatted down in front of a maidservant: “Do you have anything you want to tell me?”

The maidservant stammered: “I… My master only comes here two or three times a month, we… we can hardly see him even once.”

Yun Yang stabbed the silver needle. The maidservant wanted to dodge, but the silver needle was simply too fast to dodge. She could only watch with wide eyes as the silver needle pierced her chest.

Chen Ji subconsciously touched his own chest.

Yun Yang killed his way forward until he reached the little boy. He smiled, squinted, and squatted down, not looking at the little boy, but staring directly at Zhou Cheng Yi: “Child, what did your dad tell you?”

Zhou Cheng Yi’s face twitched slightly: “Your Ning Chao is founded on books and rites, yet you want to abuse and kill a child?”

Yun Yang let out a cold laugh: “This spring, the Jing Chao cavalry rode south and killed how many innocent people in my Ning Chao? Do you think I’ll discuss poetry, books, and rites with you? Furthermore, last year you bought a ten-year-old girl and raised her at home, then sent her to the Luo City prefect. Wasn’t she a child then? Master Zhou, if you don’t confess, your child might just die.”

“Dad, save me!”

However, Zhou Cheng Yi only slightly turned his head away, not listening to the child’s plea for help.

Yun Yang whistled: “Such a ruthless heart. It seems we’ve caught a major spy at the Hai Dong Qing level or above. To have you lurk under our noses for so many years, it’s truly shameful.”

Stab.

The boy fell down, dead.

Chen Ji watched silently. The child’s eyes hadn’t even closed yet, staring wide at him.

The blue veins on Zhou Cheng Yi’s forehead throbbed.

At this moment, the girl named Jiao Tu came in front of the little girl, squatted down, and said softly: “Just now your mother only hugged your younger brother, did you see?”

The little girl nodded in fear.

Jiao Tu said again: “If you’re willing to follow me and call me sister, I won’t kill you.”

But the little girl didn’t agree, only looked at her father blankly and fearfully.

“In this world, a weak girl will suffer much,” Jiao Tu smiled, and hugged the little girl into her embrace: “Don’t be afraid, it will be quick.”

She drew a silver needle, the same as Yun Yang’s, from her hair and personally stabbed it into the back of the little girl’s neck. The little girl instantly went limp in Jiao Tu’s embrace and had no more breath.

Chen Ji’s pupils slightly contracted.

Yun Yang completely didn’t mind the scene. He came to the only remaining housekeeper and Chen Ji: “Young man, your life was tough just now. Since you were lucky enough not to die, I’ll give you another chance. Let’s play a game, whichever of you two is the first to give intelligence will live.”

The housekeeper immediately knee-walked forward, crying with snot and tears: “Two masters, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything you want to know! Let me live!”

Yun Yang was amused: “I just love this kind of abandoning-master-for-glory play!”

Beside him, Chen Ji also spoke: “I don’t have intelligence, but give me two quarters of an hour, and I’ll find the intelligence for you.”

The housekeeper quickly explained: “Although he’s just a medical hall apprentice, what intelligence can he possibly know? Listen to me!”

Yun Yang looked at Chen Ji, his face sincere: “I have to wait two quarters of an hour for your intelligence, and I’m not sure if there is any or not, so I’m very sorry… ah you!”

Just as he was teasing, he saw Chen Ji suddenly pounce towards the housekeeper, pressing him dead on the ground.

In an instant, a piece of broken porcelain that had been hidden in Chen Ji’s hand at some unknown time cut open the housekeeper’s neck. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much killing experience, and for the first time, he didn’t cut the main artery.

Neither Yun Yang nor Jiao Tu made a move to stop him.

The housekeeper lay on the ground in panic and used his fists to hit Chen Ji’s cheek, but Chen Ji didn’t dodge or avoid, and tightened his grip on the porcelain piece to cut down again.

This second time he cut his throat, the housekeeper’s main artery in his neck was cut open, and fresh blood spurted out like a fountain.

The housekeeper died.

Chen Ji slowly rose. The corner of his eye had been punched and broken by the housekeeper, and his palm was also cut because he gripped the broken porcelain piece too tightly. Fresh blood dripped onto the ground.

Jiao Tu’s eyes brightened slightly.

Yun Yang also became interested: “You really want to live?”

Chen Ji breathed: “I don’t have intelligence, but give me two quarters of an hour, and I’ll find the intelligence for you.”

“Oh?” Yun Yang raised his eyebrows: “Deal, but I’ll only give you one quarter of an hour.”