A terrifying killing intent erupted from Lu Chao.
Infusing his fists with the True Qi of the Postnatal First Layer, Lu Chao charged Bai Heng like a ferocious beast.
He wasn't using the Nine Primordial Yang Swords, just his fists.
He was once the Great Wu Empire's youngest Emperor Star Emperor General, and he had possessed three Heavenly Destiny Saint Bones. Although the Saint Bones were now gone, a vast array of Martial Techniques remained etched in his mind...
Even without the power of the Saint Bones to bolster him, his attacks were more than anyone from a minor place like Yangzhou City could handle.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
In the blink of an eye, the tables turned. Bai Heng was now the one on the defensive.
Bai Heng retreated frantically. Though his True Qi at the Postnatal Fourth Layer was stronger than Lu Chao's, everything else about him wasn't even in the same league.
Suddenly... AGH!
A pained cry escaped Bai Heng's lips as his broken sword clattered to the floor.
The force of the blow sent him, Bai Xin, and Cheng Yunxiang flying out of Cheng Yunsu's room.
The three of them landed in a tangled heap.
But Bai Heng scrambled back to his feet almost immediately. He stared in terror at the ruined doorway and shouted, "The Life-taking Bone is evil! Run!"
At that moment, any thought of avenging his son was gone, replaced by nothing but endless terror.
'Lu Chao's fists... it felt like they were trying to kill me with every strike.'
With that, Bai Heng abandoned even his son's corpse. He turned, grabbed Bai Xin and Cheng Yunxiang, and fled.
Not far away...
Cheng Gai, who was standing amidst the unconscious Household Generals, saw Bai Heng rushing toward them with two people in tow. "What's happen—AGH!" he started to ask.
The frantically fleeing Bai Heng crashed right into him, sending him flying. He writhed on the ground in agony.
Back at the ruined doorway...
Lu Chao strode out and watched the three figures flee into the distance, but he didn't give chase.
Turning back to Cheng Yunsu's bedside, Lu Chao murmured, "Xiao Su'er, I'll repair the fourth pathway for you. Once that's done, you'll be strong enough to travel, and we can finally leave the Cheng Mansion."
Cheng Yunsu remained in a state between dreaming and waking, but as quiet returned to the room, the anxious look on her face finally eased.
She slipped completely into a deep coma.
After some time, the fourth pathway in Cheng Yunsu's eyes was fully repaired. Lu Chao gently swept her up into his arms.
'Time to leave the Cheng Mansion and find a quiet place to continue the treatment.'
"Huh?"
Just as Lu Chao was about to leave, he happened to notice a stack of letters on the headboard of Cheng Yunsu's bed. The style of the letters, and the handwriting on them, were all too familiar.
They were the letters he himself had sent out in the past.
He gently laid Cheng Yunsu back down, then picked up the letter on top of the stack and carefully unfolded it.
The first line read...
"Hello, genius of the Imperial Academy. This is Lu Chao. Thank you for your letter."
A violent tremor ran through Lu Chao's entire body. Scenes from his time in Lu Dingtian's Grand Marshal's Mansion flashed through his mind.
As the genius Emperor Star of the Great Wu Empire, Lu Chao was an idol to countless young people, especially the students of the Imperial Academy.
Whenever they saw him, their gazes would be filled with adoration.
Many of them wrote him letters, hoping to receive a reply.
At the time, Lu Chao had been full of ambition and preoccupied with his studies and cultivation, so he rarely replied. But one person's letters had caught his attention, because they sent him one every ten days without fail.
And they were always unsigned.
Everyone else wrote their names, hoping for a reply or perhaps even to be taken under his wing, but not this person.
So, Lu Chao had replied. And from that day on, he had replied to nearly every letter she sent.
Amidst the tedious cultivation at the Grand Marshal's Mansion, Lu Chao had gained an unknown pen pal.
Only now did he realize that this pen pal had been Xiao Su'er, back when she was at the Imperial Academy.
Staring at Cheng Yunsu in his arms, Lu Chao said in a raspy voice, "Xiao Su'er, so you knew all along that I was the little beggar from back then. So the reason you rushed to revive me... was because of letter after letter."
After more than a decade, Cheng Yunsu naturally couldn't be certain if Emperor Star Lu Chao was the same little beggar.
That was why she had persisted in writing, using the letters to confirm that Lu Chao was indeed her savior.
Yet when Lu Chao was at the height of his power, she never signed her name.
And when Lu Chao fell from grace, reduced to a lonely wandering spirit, she had unhesitatingly shattered her Heavenly Fire Sparrow Bone in exchange for his rebirth.
Gazing intently at Cheng Yunsu in his arms, her eyes still shut tight, Lu Chao vowed, "In this life, I will never fail you."
He picked up Cheng Yunsu, and the two vanished from the room.
Half an hour later, Lu Chao arrived at a deserted, dilapidated house within Yangzhou City. After cleaning the place, he focused solely on repairing all the pathways in Cheng Yunsu's eyes...
Here, no one would disturb him.
...
「At the same time...」
Cheng Chuming returned to the outside of Cheng Yunsu's room, an old man in tow. The man was, of course, the renowned Doctor Liu of Yangzhou City.
But when Cheng Chuming saw the ruined state of his daughter's doorway, he was stunned.
When he saw Bai Lu's corpse, he was dumbfounded.
By now, other members of the Cheng Mansion had gathered around the room. He asked in a hoarse voice, "What happened here?"
The next moment, two figures stepped forward with heavy footfalls. It was Cheng Chugong and Cheng Chuyan.
They had returned to the Cheng Mansion just before Cheng Chuming arrived with the doctor.
"Big Brother, that country bumpkin killed your father-in-law Patriarch Bai's most precious grandson. And he ran off with that 'good' daughter of yours."
"Cheng Gai says you were an accomplice."
"Now, you can explain yourself to Father and your dear father-in-law."
As the words fell... CLANK!
A pair of shackles was thrown down in front of Cheng Chuming. "Put them on," Cheng Chugong said. "Yourself."
Cheng Chuming's entire body trembled, but when he heard that Lu Chao and Cheng Yunsu had escaped, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Finally, he put on the shackles himself.
From the moment he decided to defy his father and the family for his daughter's sake, Cheng Chuming had anticipated this very scene.
He just hadn't expected things to become so much more complicated.
The young man with the Life-taking Bone—the one who was willing to marry his daughter when she was barely human—had actually killed Bai Lu.
'No matter. As long as Yunsu gets away safely, that's all that matters.'
'Will that young man with the Life-taking Bone treat Yunsu well? Can her eyes really be healed?'
Cheng Chuming wondered silently, but before he could dwell on it, Cheng Chugong gave the order, and he was dragged away to the dungeons.
...
「Yangzhou City, within the Bai Family estate.」
At that moment, two old men were seated opposite each other in the main hall of the Bai Mansion, drinking wine.
One was Cheng Weishan. The other was Cheng Chuming's father-in-law, the father of Bai Xin, Bai Wenrong.
Bai Wenrong took a sip of wine and smiled. "My dear in-law, your troubles are my troubles. As for Young Lady Wu Xin of the City Lord's Mansion, I'll certainly spare no effort in pleading your case. We'll try to keep the wedding as small as possible."
Cheng Weishan's purpose for this visit was exactly that: to ask his in-law Bai Wenrong to go with him to the City Lord's Mansion and plead their case. The wedding was unavoidable, but Cheng Weishan hoped they could prevent the Cheng Family from being too thoroughly humiliated.
"But, as they say, whoever tied the bell must be the one to untie it. The root of all this trouble was that so-called genius-turned-cripple granddaughter of yours."
"As long as we can put Young Lady Wu Xin in a good mood, everything else will be easy to sort out."