He'd rather run than be turned into a cannon fodder for the broken engagement.

late at night.

Except for the brightly lit funeral hall, the rest of the place was dark.

The torrential rain started suddenly in the afternoon and hasn't stopped. Outside, the rain pattered through the trees and leaves.

"We'll pay our respects to Miss Wu tomorrow morning, then we'll take our leave..." Leng Huan closed his eyes and sat down to meditate.

"Hmm, but I'm afraid we won't be able to leave." Fu Xun wiped his sword.

Leng Huan opened her eyes and looked at him: "You noticed too?"

Seeing Fu Xun nod, she asked in confusion, "Then why didn't you let me examine the corpse during the day?"

Fu Xun paused, not even looking up: "Even if I don't stop you, Wu Shaoping will."

Leng Huan: "Tsk, I was just thinking about it. Actually, I'm a little scared."

She stopped asking questions and suddenly sighed, "Oh, how cruel... What grudge could they have?"

Fu Xun looked up at her and said, "People are prone to greed, anger, ignorance, and resentment; they can't escape any of these. However, since the old patriarch's sudden death, almost all of the Wu family's retainers have resigned, leaving only a widow and her child. Otherwise, the Qian family wouldn't dare to go so far..."

“What you said is also…” Leng Huan was halfway through his sentence when suddenly a bolt of lightning struck outside the window with a “crackling” sound, as if it were right next to him, illuminating the world as bright as day for an instant.

Bang! Boom—

Immediately following was a deafening roar, which startled Leng Huan. She jumped out of bed, exclaiming, "What happened?!"

Fu Xun frowned, got out of bed, and stood still: "It's like being struck by lightning!"

The next moment, a piercing scream came from the main courtyard: "Aaaaaah!!!"

They rushed to the source of the sound.

The Wu family's main courtyard was situated on slightly higher ground, and the buildings were luxurious and grand. The Ci'an Courtyard, where the old lady once lived, had been reduced to ruins by a violent lightning strike, with flying rubble everywhere.

The rain intensified and then subsided. Under the lamplight lit by the servants, the heat rising from the ruins suddenly cooled and emitted white mist. The rain fell obliquely, while the dust was cleanly crushed to the ground.

This was the scene when Leng Huan and his companion arrived.

The main house was the tallest and most luxurious, and it was the most severely damaged. The gnarled pine tree at the back of the house was also not spared, its trunk broken in half.

The power of thunder is terrifying!

As for Madam Wu and her maids and servants who were originally in the house, they have all been buried under the ruins.

Leng Huan was speechless with shock. This was the first time she had ever seen someone die from being struck by lightning.

The arriving butler knelt down with a thud, his voice filled with grief: "Madam!"

Wu Shaoping, who had been working tirelessly lately and looked haggard, was on duty at the mourning hall when he heard the explosion and rushed over, only a moment later than Leng Huan and the others. He was shocked and cried out in disbelief, "Mother!"

"Quickly, someone dig through the rubble!!"

He channeled his spiritual power and unleashed a powerful palm strike, managing to push aside only a corner of the broken wall. He looked at Leng Huan and the others in a panic, pleading, "Please, both of you, help me..."

“Okay, tell them to move aside a bit.” Leng Huan nodded readily.

She glanced at Fu Xun, who nodded in understanding. He took out the Xuan Tie Sword, examined the original layout of the house, and along the broken wall, gathered his spiritual power and precisely slashed three times at the ruins. With the last slash, he swept across the ruins with a boom, which actually shattered the entire main house and caused sand and stones to fly everywhere.

After the dust settled, the horrific scene was finally revealed: the white marble tiles were all shattered, exposing the dark foundation and several charred skeletons, one of which was barely recognizable as human.

—It was the old lady; beside her remains was a ring made of a special material. The other skeletons were those of servants, closest to each other.

Wu Shaoping broke down in tears upon seeing the mangled remains, and the servants all knelt down and wept bitterly.

Leng Huan, however, thought at an inopportune moment: Could lightning scatter people?

The rain finally subsided, and she squatted down in front of the paving stones to examine the ground properly. Just then, she heard Wu Shaoping's choked voice: "I never expected such a thing to happen. Please go back inside first. After the servants have cleaned up the mess, you can go to the mourning hall."

Leng Huan had no choice but to throw away the piece of floor tile he had picked up, say "Please accept my condolences," and return to the room with Fu Xun.

-

The rain stopped and it was dawn, late morning.

"Oh, I never thought that Sister Xiaoqin would die like this. Everyone says it was struck by lightning, but everyone clearly saw the young mistress appear before. The old lady strictly ordered everyone not to gossip, but how innocent were the maids who died?"

Hearing the sobbing coming from behind the artificial hill, Leng Huan and Fu Xun stopped in their tracks. This garden was very secluded, but it was a passageway to the guest courtyard, and they hadn't expected to encounter servants venting their emotions.

So much has happened lately, everyone is feeling anxious and uneasy.

The voice wasn't loud, but they all heard it clearly. Then they heard another maid whispering, "Yes, it was clearly the old lady and young lady who committed the sins. The young mistress must be suffering injustice and her spirit has returned to seek revenge. Wasn't she punished by heaven over there last night?"

The servants seemed to have been under immense pressure from the recent high-pressure situation in the mansion, living in constant fear. Now that the old lady had been laid to rest and placed in the mourning hall alongside Miss Wu's coffin, they finally had a chance to vent their frustrations.

"The poor young mistress works tirelessly to take care of the eldest young master, yet she is still criticized by the old lady and the young lady, and the head of the family turns a blind eye..."

Listening to the maid's words in fits and starts, Leng Huan finally understood that Wu Shaoping's wife was mistreated by her mother-in-law and disliked by her sister-in-law. The Wu family had never respected her, and even though she was six months pregnant, she still made sure to pay her respects to her mother-in-law morning and evening, regardless of the weather.

Wu Shaoping dared not speak up to defend his mother out of consideration for her feelings, and only asked her to bear with it and be patient. This patience led to problems.

—Because the Wu family had only one son for two generations, things went wrong again with Wu Shaoping. The old lady was determined to have a grandson and used all sorts of secret methods and folk remedies to try to change the baby's gender. Unexpectedly, the fetus was too big, which ultimately led to the death of both mother and child. The mother died, and the child was a deformed freak who died in the womb.

The sky was overcast, there was no sun, and the clouds were thick; I wondered if it would rain.

Leng Huan went out for a stroll in the city, experiencing the bustling and lively world, and returned to the Wu residence at dusk.

I had originally planned to take my leave, but it's not an easy time to leave now, so I have to pay my respects.

-

"Huan-ge, where are you going?"

In the dead of night, Leng Huan changed into a neat black outfit, covered his face with a black cloth, and looked like he was about to cause trouble. Fu Xun, holding his sword, asked him a question.

"I want to confirm some things." Leng Huan tied his face mask tightly in a knot behind his head.

Not wanting to meddle in other people's business, Fu Xun asked in bewilderment, "Someone died, aren't you scared?"

"I'm scared, but I'm even more scared of not completing the mission. Look what this is..."

Leng Huan was a person with a stubborn and strange obsessive-compulsive tendency towards certain things. She knew this matter was not simple, but she didn't want to fail the mission on her first attempt at training.

Fu Xun was slightly taken aback when he saw what was in her palm.

Leng Huan rolled his eyes: "Besides, I'm only afraid of ghosts, not people. Besides, this is obviously man-made." As he spoke, he picked up his platinum-sheathed sword and was about to open the door.

Alright, Fu Xun understood, and silently followed her.

"Let's go." Leng Huan said, gently closing the door, and leaped out. In an instant, two figures leaped out of the guest courtyard and headed straight for the main courtyard where the lightning had struck.

whoosh-

Unexpectedly, just as they landed on the artificial hill of Ci'an Temple, another figure swiftly swept across the connecting corridor ahead and arrived at the ruins before them!

The night was as dark as ink. Leng Huan squinted and could only see a dark shadow. It was too fast.

She concealed her presence and crept over. She saw the person in the ruins, in a place where half of the house was still standing, groped around and seemed to open a passage. Suddenly, he jumped down and disappeared.

Leng Huan: !

She immediately followed, and there was a perfectly intact floor tile under the broken, dark ruins. After hesitating for a moment, she lifted the tile, revealing a circular mechanism. She pressed it, and a dark hole silently appeared next to it.

She glanced at Fu Xun, nodded, and jumped down. He naturally followed closely behind. Inside, there was a hidden world!

-