Little Pink Starfish

The sudden sight of the scene before them left the three observers momentarily stunned.

Gu Xia gasped softly, “Oh no… are we too late?”

“This is bad. What if his cover is blown?” Shen Qinglan said anxiously.

“I don’t know,” Jiang Lianhuan replied, shaking his head.

Gu Xia drew his sword. His usual baby-faced smile faded, replaced with rare seriousness. Though his youthful features made it seem almost innocent, the tension in the air was real.

“We have no choice,” Jiang Lianhuan said coldly. “Since we chose this path, we must have expected things like this. Did you think this would be easy? From the start, this mission was a gamble where one misstep could spell total ruin. Just look at that ‘Yi Linglong’ from Tianyi Tower… this was never a job for just anyone.”

Shen Qinglan glared at him when she heard that.

“And do you really think his being here is normal?” Jiang Lianhuan rubbed his temples. “There’s one thing I don’t understand. Does Six Doors truly know what’s going on in this place?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… were we sent here to investigate—or are we being used as pawns?” Jiang Lianhuan asked.

Shen Qinglan looked puzzled, about to ask more, but Gu Xia, who understood, raised a hand to stop her.

Hua Rongyue’s eyes were still blood-red. The three colleagues didn’t find that shocking—they assumed she had applied some sort of dye for the role—but she was clearly not acting like her usual self.

She had just finished speaking with the former Tianyi Tower member. He had tried to return to his original sect after escaping but had been rejected—ostensibly because he was “tainted” by his past, but really, they feared retaliation. Since the new master had taken over Tianyi Tower, word had spread: anyone who had escaped would be hunted down, including Yi Linglong. Captured? Kill on sight.

Unable to find sanctuary, he and others in similar situations ended up in this mountain stronghold. But once they settled, they realized something was wrong.

Masked figures frequently appeared at night, leaving just before dawn, as if they had never been there.

At first, he thought it was internal business and didn’t pry. But then people from his own group began vanishing.

After some quiet investigation, he discovered those people had been taken to hidden buildings on the mountainside—and never returned.

Guards surrounded those buildings, and from within came horrifying screams. He could only imagine the inhumane treatment going on inside. Worse, he couldn’t speak out—there were too many powerful figures in the stronghold, and escape was impossible for them alone.

Hua Rongyue listened quietly, piecing the story together in her mind.

First: those masked men were likely people who had succumbed to madness.

Second: the missing individuals were probably dead, murdered by the madmen. In other words, this wasn’t just a bandit den—it was a human trafficking operation. People were kidnapped, then sold to those who had gone insane, to be used for torture and killing.

It only took Hua Rongyue a few minutes to deduce all this, largely thanks to Yi Linglong’s memories of similar events. Once she saw the pattern, the rest fell into place.

These people couldn’t escape—not if they were trying to avoid Tianyi Tower’s pursuit.

The man watching her was anxious. He didn’t know about any of this or the true identity of the masked ones. If he had, he might have run the moment he saw her red eyes. But Hua Rongyue already understood everything.

Time was running out—they’d been standing too long. She heard more people approaching.

“Go now,” the man urged. “I’ll stall them here. Head east—you’ll find a small stream. Follow it, and you’ll reach an exit. With your lightness skills, you’ll be fine…”

“What about you?” Hua Rongyue asked. “They won’t just let you walk away.”

“Don’t worry about me…” he said softly. But Hua Rongyue knew—once labeled as ‘cargo’, he couldn’t simply wander. He had only managed to investigate this far by being clever and lucky. If he stayed behind now, that luck might run out.

Hua Rongyue weighed her options. The first path was to do as he said—run. It was the safest choice.

But if she ran now, she might have to keep running for the rest of her life.

She looked at him again. This man had escaped Tianyi Tower because of her—and now, he was ready to die for her.

The martial world was full of schemes and betrayals, but Hua Rongyue had only tasted its blood, not yet its deeper cruelties.

Still… she couldn’t just walk away.

She had always been the type who took her responsibilities seriously. Walking away now felt harder than squeezing into ill-fitting clothes.

So she stayed put—and even told the man behind her to leave first.

He looked at her in shock, eyes wide, unsure what she was doing.

More people were arriving. It was clearly more than just one or two. There were strong fighters in this stronghold.

Hua Rongyue was soon surrounded.

But the good news? Her staying had given the other man time to escape.

Now the standoff was clear: a ring of enemies surrounded Hua Rongyue—while outside that ring, three others crouched in the shadows.

Jiang Lianhuan assessed the distance. It wasn’t close enough for voice transmission.

And who knew how many experts were in the crowd? If he tried it, they might overhear.

“Can Xiao Yue really handle this?” Gu Xia fretted. “He’s always been so gentle…”

Their first impression of Hua Rongyue was the quiet young man who had silently handed out mountain walnuts—hard to imagine him as Yi Linglong.

But Jiang Lianhuan wasn’t worried about that. He had seen Hua Rongyue in the Drunken Residence. His concern was whether she could convincingly act mad.

Back then, she had only dealt with normal people. Here… there were madmen.

Only madmen could understand madmen. Jiang Lianhuan doubted Hua Rongyue could truly empathize with them. In fact, he was sure no one knew more about lunatics than he did.

Sure, comparing others to himself might be arrogant—but Jiang Lianhuan sincerely believed he was the most knowledgeable “sane person” when it came to the insane.

If Hua Rongyue was exposed as not being mad, that would be a huge problem.

This was walking a tightrope—one slip, and it was over.

If she failed, the consequences wouldn’t just be embarrassment—she could be expelled from the Six Doors. Once that protection was gone, those who had hesitated to move against her before would no longer hold back.

In Jiang Lianhuan’s eyes, Hua Rongyue had talent, beauty, and acting skill—among the best in the new recruits. If given time, she could have become a major figure in the Six Doors.

But someone had targeted her too soon.

And the jianghu never lacked tragedies. If she didn’t survive this, she would vanish like countless others before her—nameless, forgotten.

He watched as Hua Rongyue slowly lifted her head, sighing internally.

Sigh… still a little too green.

What a pity.

Just then, Hua Rongyue thought she heard a woman laughing softly in her ear. The laughter was pleasant—nothing like the harsh, artificial laugh she had heard last time.

It sounded like a girl in a good mood, chuckling at something amusing.

Again?

Compared to last time, her mind felt clearer. Before, it had felt like someone was controlling her every move. Now, she had managed to grasp one of her puppet strings herself.

Though the world still looked hazy—like frosted glass—it was better than before.

She almost felt like she and that voice were becoming old acquaintances.

One thing was clear: she couldn’t fight her way out of this alone. Not with this many people. Not with this many madmen.

She sighed internally and thought, Whoever you are—ghost, subconscious, hallucination—help me now!

The voice sighed gently in her ear.

Suddenly, Hua Rongyue felt lighter.

——So this is how Yi Linglong saw the world…?

…

From his hiding place, Jiang Lianhuan looked up just in time to see Hua Rongyue raise her head sharply.

Everything he had just been thinking vanished from his mind.

A moment ago, she had looked like a young novice, barely initiated into the world of martial arts.

But in the next moment—

She was the Tower Lord of Tianyi Tower. The woman who ruled the jianghu with terror.

Yi Linglong.