C2 He Fell into a Trap

A glint of cold steel, and five heads tumbled to the ground, their bodies collapsing lifelessly without them. Lin Feiyang wiped the blood from his great sword and, with a grin, turned to Ye Bufan. "Mr. Ye, are you pleased with my actions?"

Ye Bufan rifled through his fading memories and found no bond with Lin Feiyang, only a history of conflicts. Unsolicited favors often masked ulterior motives. "What are you getting at with this?" Ye Bufan inquired, his brow furrowed in suspicion.

Lin Feiyang's face remained impassive, betraying no sign of the violence he had just wrought. "The Ye and Lin families have long been under the thumb of the City Lord's Mansion. I understand the peril we face when one falls. I wouldn't want you to bear the brunt of Lord Yun's anger over a trifle. Please, Mr. Ye, make your escape. I'll handle the fallout on your behalf."

Rising to his feet, Ye Bufan gave Lin Feiyang a respectful bow, a triumphant smirk on his face. "Then I owe you my thanks, Brother Lin. In a couple of days, I'll arrange a feast at the Emerald Wind House. We'll drink to our hearts' content."

As Ye Bufan's figure receded into the distance, a sly smile crept across Lin Feiyang's face. "Fool."

Once out of Lin Feiyang's sight, Ye Bufan's pace quickened dramatically, his lethargy replaced by the vigor of a leopard sprinting through the jungle.

Conventional wisdom held that a soul needed time to adapt to a new body, yet Ye Bufan found his control nearly flawless, as if the body were his own all along. Confusion lingered, but there was no time for contemplation; he was on an urgent mission to save someone...

Before dawn broke, guided by the faint starlight, Ye Bufan navigated through the woods, drawn by distant clamor. He pinpointed the source and stealthily approached.

Bathed in moonlight, Yun Ruoshuang's garments were speckled with blossoms of blood. She slumped against a sapling, her complexion ashen.

A short distance away lay a body. Ye Bufan recognized him as Yun Cheng, one of the guards assigned to escort Yun Ruoshuang. He had been fatally stabbed in the back, the blade piercing straight through to his heart.

The other guard, also named Yun Cheng, was smirking at Yun Ruoshuang. "Miss Yun!" he sneered.

Yun Ruoshuang clenched her teeth, the grinding noise audible as she glared at Yun Cheng's contemptible demeanor. Suddenly, she let out a chilling laugh.

"This is bad!" Sensing trouble from her laugh, Ye Bufan darted from the woods, seized the greatsword beside the fallen body, and charged at Yun Cheng.

Yun Cheng, caught off guard by the rustling behind him, turned just in time to see Ye Bufan, greatsword in hand, bearing down on him.

Ye Bufan might have been known for his frivolous ways, but he was no slouch in combat, certainly more skilled than the City Lord's Mansion guards.

Yun Cheng, taken aback by Ye Bufan's sudden onslaught, reflexively raised his sword to defend himself.

But Ye Bufan's strike, which had seemed as unstoppable as a thunderbolt, abruptly shifted. The cleaving blow turned into a swift slice, and his lightning-fast sword slashed across Yun Cheng's throat.

Yun Cheng felt an icy sensation at his neck. Dropping his greatsword, he clutched at his throat, mouth gaping in silent gasps, and then collapsed, soundless.

Having slit Yun Cheng's throat, Ye Bufan continued his rush toward Yun Ruoshuang. With a swift motion, he swung his greatsword, striking Yun Ruoshuang's dagger to the ground with a resounding clang.

Yun Ruoshuang, tears in her eyes, looked up at the suddenly appearing Ye Bufan and cried out, "What more do you want from me? Why won't you let me die?"

Her plaintive wail seemed to touch a nerve in Ye Bufan. Who on earth have I angered? I just wanted to consume the Spirit Accumulating Pill, and it brought on a Heavenly Tribulation; my physical body was nearly obliterated, and my primordial spirit almost extinguished. I've only just found a new body to reincarnate into, and now I'm caught up in this mess with this young man's violence...

"Enough crying!" Ye Bufan, frustrated by Yun Ruoshuang's distress, barked at her.

Yun Ruoshuang's sobs came to an abrupt halt, her tears falling silently, like pearls slipping from a broken string, dotting her cheeks. She dared not let her cries be heard; she feared Ye Bufan. To her, Ye Bufan was a demon, especially in the darkness of night.

"We've been ensnared in someone else's scheme!" Ye Bufan observed Yun Ruoshuang's quieted weeping and spoke up, "Reflect on everything from start to finish. Doesn't it all seem a little too convenient?"

The sudden assassination of Yun Wu by Cloud City, followed by the palm strike that wounded him, had already tipped Yun Ruoshuang off that something was amiss. She was no fool, but she was a woman. "What does it matter if it's a trap? What of conspiracies? Can you restore what I've lost? I despise you!" Yun Ruoshuang's voice, tinged with raspiness, rang out.

To have loved is to know the depth of affection; to have faced death is to understand the value of life.

In that moment, Ye Bufan had no desire to meet his end so soon after his rebirth. Yun Ruoshuang was crucial to his continued existence. If she were to die in the forest, even if he managed to escape, he feared the prospect of confronting the City Lord's Mansion and the Lin family. And what of his own family? Would the Ye family cast aside a profligate like him? Ye Bufan was uncertain, preferring instead to take control of his own destiny.

"You foolish woman, if we both fall here, the Yun and Ye families will surely go to war, playing right into the Lin family's hands. Have you spared a thought for your father?" Ye Bufan bellowed. He understood that Yun Ruoshuang was emotionally turbulent, beyond the reach of gentle persuasion. Only a forceful approach stood a chance.

As expected, Yun Ruoshuang paused, then declared, "I can't worry about all that. All I want now is for you to die!" With those words, she lunged at Ye Bufan.

Ye Bufan, facing Yun Ruoshuang's near madness, delivered a knife-hand strike to her neck, and she collapsed softly into his embrace.

With a beauty in his arms, Ye Bufan found himself devoid of any desire to even spare her an extra glance. The Lin family's machinations against the Ye and Yun families were intricate, and he suspected they wouldn't easily allow Yun Ruoshuang to leave the forest alive. Only her death could provoke the fury of the City Lord...

Clutching Yun Ruoshuang, Ye Bufan chose not to head out of the forest but instead made his way toward a cave. The most perilous places are often the safest, and at least for the time being, the cave offered sanctuary.

Ye Bufan had considered leaving the forest, but the likelihood of encountering members of the Lin family was too great. In his current state, he might handle a few city guards, but facing the Lin family was a different story; he lacked the confidence for such a confrontation.

Inside the cave, the corpse had vanished, and the once-blazing bonfire was now extinguished. Everything else remained untouched.

Setting Yun Ruoshuang gently on the ground, Ye Bufan sank into a deep silence, not daring to rekindle the fire.

The hour before dawn is the darkest, coldest point of the night. Yun Ruoshuang, lost in unconsciousness, lay curled up, shivering faintly.

Removing his coat, Ye Bufan covered her with it and began to meditate. Fear was not in his nature. If he could withstand the night's deepest darkness, he was certain that with the influence of the Ye and Yun families, they would be found swiftly come daylight. The Lin family, meanwhile, would not return to search the cave so soon.

Stripped of his coat, Ye Bufan felt the chill acutely. He had believed cultivation would shield him from the cold, but as he attempted to draw on the planet's natural Yuan energy, he found none. Without it, how could he possibly cultivate?

A cold dread crept into Ye Bufan's soul, a chill more profound than any physical discomfort. He regretted not having strengthened his body more through cultivation, but fear was foreign to him. Even ensnared by the Lin family's schemes, he was unafraid, trusting in his ability to safeguard Yun Ruoshuang. He knew that the City Lord of Yun would not let him perish.

Yet, the inability to cultivate struck a deep fear in Ye Bufan. Incapacitation meant living as a cripple, a fate his former pride could not reconcile with. The thought of such an existence was unbearable.

The chill in his heart, coupled with the biting cold of the night wind, lulled an exhausted Ye Bufan into a deep sleep.