The Double

Jiang Li sat dazed as the person released her. When she finally saw clearly who it was, she saw that both hands had been neatly chopped off at the wrists.

Jiang Li couldn’t see how his hands had been chopped off, but she noticed a speck of blood on Jih Heng’s fan. He took out a snow-white silk handkerchief from his sleeve, his face showing disgust as he wiped the blood from his fan before casually discarding it.

The silk handkerchief fluttered down onto the person below, who, with bare stumps for hands, was wailing miserably and rolling around as if in extreme pain, his screams heart-wrenching. Zhao Ke walked over and ran his sword through the man’s throat, ending his life.

Only then did Jiang Li see clearly that the other four had already fallen to the ground, all with fatal wounds to their throats, likely the work of Zhao Ke and Wen Ji. The one in front of her must have been personally dealt with by Jih Heng, who had used his fan to chop off the man’s hands.

"A man has died," Wen Renyao said. He sighed and brought his hands together in prayer, "What a sin, what a sin."

There he was, putting on quite the compassionate display – if he hadn’t roamed about at the start, maybe they wouldn’t have attracted these men.

Lu Jiu seemed unfazed, as if accustomed to such events, and suggested to Jih Heng, "Let’s continue on our way then."

Lin Yao, the youngest, was scared to tears. Though he didn’t dare to cry loudly, his red eyes tugged at the heartstrings. Jiang Li looked at Jih Heng, who smiled back at her and patted her shoulder, saying, "It’s over now."

"It’s over now," these words seemed to settle Jiang Li’s nerves, leaving her feeling as if she had exerted all her strength and suddenly becoming exhausted. She was about to speak when suddenly there came the sound of galloping hooves in the distance, mixed with curses and shouts.

Everyone was startled.