My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

"Someone has entered the lady's room!"

"Someone come quickly!"

In an instant, the entire Cheng family home became noisy, as countless footsteps approached the room from afar.

"So that's what they were up to."

Hearing the sounds of a blockade coming from the surroundings and the roof, Xie Yan calmly lifted the gauze curtain and walked towards the inner room where the smell of blood was strongest.

A figure collapsed in front of the bed.

Xie Yan approached with a tinderbox in hand. By the dim light, he could see the face of the person on the ground. It was Madam Cheng, the woman the servants outside had been talking about.

At this moment, she had lost the elegant and noble demeanor she had shown in front of everyone; her beautiful face was now contorted with rage.

She was wearing a white undergarment, lying face down on the ground, her eyes wide open, her face contorted, looking as if she had died with her eyes wide open.

Large amounts of blood gushed out from under Madam Cheng's body. Xie Yan had stepped on it, and it had not yet congealed, so it looked like she had only recently died.

Xie Yan leaned down slightly, raised her sword, and flipped Madam Cheng over.

Because she was lying prone, a dagger, hilt and all, had already plunged into her heart.

But this wasn't the only fatal wound.

Although blurred by blood, a deep wound was still clearly visible on Madam Cheng's neck. The flesh was turned outwards, and blood was still gushing out.

The wound was very deep. Xie Yan reached out and measured it, discovering that the wound had almost severed Madam Cheng's entire neck, which was enough to show how ruthless the murderer was when he struck.

Judging from the appearance, Madam Cheng was still alive when her throat was slit, otherwise she wouldn't have had such a twisted and ferocious expression.

But before Xie Yan could continue looking down, a loud bang was heard as the door was kicked open.

Several figures swiftly flashed into the room, a cold light piercing the darkness as a sword tore through the gauze curtain and thrust straight at Xie Yan.

Xie Yan dodged to the side, simultaneously drawing her longsword and swinging it forward. A clang rang out as the two sharp weapons clashed, sending sparks flying.

The flashes of fire briefly illuminated the faces of the two men whose weapons were clashing.

"How will you be here?"

Song Yunzheng looked at Xie Yan with surprise, clearly not expecting that the thug who broke into Madam Cheng's bedroom was him.

Then, the next second, he saw Madam Cheng lying on the ground, lifeless.

"lady!"

Song Yunzheng exclaimed in shock, pointing her sword at Xie Yan in disbelief and demanding, "Did you do this?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the other figures who had rushed in also saw the scene before them. Without waiting for Xie Yan's reply, they immediately roared and attacked him.

"You audacious scoundrel! Prepare to die!"

Xie Yan remained expressionless. With a flick of her longsword, she deflected the first sword thrust at her and caught another person's attack with her other hand.

In an instant, the room was filled with the flashing of swords and the continuous sounds of various weapons clashing. The originally spacious room became increasingly cramped as more and more people poured in.

Despite being surrounded, Xie Yan remained calm. He skillfully dealt with the attacks from all directions while approaching Madam Cheng's corpse.

He felt like he had sensed something was wrong just now.

However, before he could even retreat to the bedside, someone saw through his intentions.

"Don't even think about disturbing the scene!"

The man shouted and dodged to block Xie Yan's path, while simultaneously raising his hand to attack him.

Xie Yan dodged to the side, but several people immediately blocked his way from getting closer to the corpse, causing him to miss the best opportunity to examine it.

Just then, a shout came from outside the door to stop them.

"stop!"

Upon hearing this sound, everyone in the room paused. Xie Yan also took the opportunity to break away from the battle and retreated to Shen Yulin's side, who had come to stop them.

"Brother Xie, are you alright?"

Shen Yulin looked Xie Yan up and down, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he was alright. He then turned to look at Song Yunzheng and the others.

"Everyone, please calm down."

He took a step forward and stood in front of Xie Yan.

"There must be some misunderstanding. Brother Xie is not an assassin; he came here in search of one."

Shen Yulin had heard everything that had just happened in their residence.

When he came out, he saw Xie Yan chasing after a man in black.

However, someone stepped forward and questioned, "Chasing the assassin? When we arrived, we saw him alone, holding a sword, standing next to Madam Cheng's corpse!"

"If he came here to hunt down a murderer, then where is the murderer? Why did we only see him when we came in?"

"That's right, we arrived the moment he stormed into Madam Cheng's room! There's no way we'd let anyone escape!"

The men who came out of the room all looked at Xie Yan with indignation, drew their swords and confronted her angrily, already convinced that she was the murderer.

"what?"

Upon hearing the news of Madam Cheng's death, Shen Yulin's expression changed slightly, but he still stood in front of Xie Yan.

"Gentlemen, there is still something strange about this matter. If he is really the murderer, why was he able to escape easily the first two times, but was caught by you this time? Please do not let your anger cloud your judgment and fall into the real murderer's trap."

Upon hearing his words, some people hesitated.

Someone sneered and slowly moved their sword towards Shen Yulin, saying, "Young Master Shen, you claim to be a disciple of Qingyun Daoist, yet you can't distinguish right from wrong and are protecting a murderer. We saw it with our own eyes; how can this person be denied?"

"Speaking of which, you brought this person here. Could it be that one of the two people Lord Zixiao mentioned is an accomplice of you?"

By the end, the man's tone had turned cold.

Xie Yan looked at the man thoughtfully. He was the first to stand up and question Shen Yulin, and he had been subtly guiding the crowd.

His last words, unsurprisingly, aroused everyone's suspicion.

“That’s right! This person is not only someone we don’t know, but he’s been acting suspiciously ever since he appeared at the Cheng residence. Now he’s been caught red-handed in Madam’s room. How can you expect us to believe that he’s not involved?”

"That's right, Young Master Shen, we demand an explanation from you!"

In an instant, several weapons were all pointed at Shen Yulin and Xie Yan.

The atmosphere instantly became tense again.

"Wait a minute!"

Just then, the Lord of Zixiao Manor and the leader of Xuanzhen Sect, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, descended from the sky and landed between the two groups of people.

"The Lord of Zixiao Manor and the Sect Leader of Xuanzhen Sect have arrived!"

"Master Zixiao! Can you confirm whether these two are the assassins you encountered that night?"

Upon hearing this, the Lord of Zixiao Manor stroked his beard, though he was still unaware of the current situation.

But he still shook his head and said, "We recognize Shen Xianxie's martial arts style; it is not him."

"As for the other young friend..."

He turned his head and frowned as he looked Xie Yan up and down. Just as he was about to say something more, a "bang" sounded from behind him.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound—

Chu Ling landed lightly on the wall, throwing the unconscious Cheng Nanchun down with him.

Chu Ling: Huh? I think I've stumbled upon a major drama.

Xie Yan: ...You seized the opportunity perfectly.