In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

Gu Qingshuang came to find him.

"The Blood Ravens have moved again," she said. "They're at Falling Star Beach. The fourth sealing point. They've set up camp, and it looks like they're digging for something."

Where is Falling Star Beach?

"North of Ironwall City lies a rocky wasteland," Gu Qingshuang said. "My men have been watching them for three days. Quite a few people have been going in and out; it seems like they're serious."

Lin Qiye stood up, picked up the gun leaning against the corner of the wall, and said, "Let's go."

"Just the two of us?" Gu Qing Shuang raised an eyebrow.

"Just the two of us," Lin Qiye said. "Too many people will only attract unwanted attention. Besides," he paused, "I have an idea. We need Blood Raven members to deliver a message back alive."

Gu Qingshuang looked at him and suddenly smiled: "I'm starting to understand why my aunt said you're someone special."

"Your aunt also told me to act within my means."

"She's afraid you'll die." Gu Qingshuang picked up her sword and followed behind him, a hint of amusement in her voice that she herself didn't realize. "Let's go, I'll lead the way."

Falling Star Beach is located north of Iron Wall City; it is a barren, rocky beach where not a blade of grass grows.

The beach is scattered with countless black stones of all sizes, resembling a place struck by a star. Legend has it that many years ago, a star fell here, creating this beach, hence the name Fallen Star Beach.

When Lin Qiye and Gu Qingshuang arrived, it was getting dark.

They lay prone on a high slope outside the beach, and looking into the distance, they could indeed see several tents pitched deep in the rocky beach, where a dozen or so people dressed in dark short clothes were moving stones, as if they were digging for something.

"Where have they dug up to?" Lin Qiye asked.

"They arrived three days ago and have been digging ever since," Gu Qingshuang said in a low voice. "At this rate, they should reach the seal point in three to five days at most."

Lin Qiye observed for a moment, then suddenly asked, "How many people will they leave on guard at night?"

"They dig during the day and take turns guarding the camp at night, about four or five of them."

"Okay," Lin Qiye said. "Tonight, I'll wipe out their camp."

"You want to kill them all?"

"No." Lin Qiye stood up, brushing the dust off his robes. "I want at least one of them to return alive. With a message."

Night was falling.

A campfire was lit at the campsite on the rocky beach. A dozen or so Blood Raven members sat around the fire, eating dry rations and talking in hushed tones. Several lanterns were lit around the camp, and four or five men on guard duty were scattered in the shadows, yawning.

Lin Qiye slid silently down the high slope, using the shadows of the rocks to approach the camp inch by inch.

Gu Qingshuang followed behind him, her steps even lighter than his.

Lin Qiye stopped behind a large rock about twenty feet from the camp and said to Gu Qingshuang in a low voice, "I'll go in. You block the eastern exit. Let one person who escapes go."

How do you know they'll run east?

"To the west is a cliff, to the south is the road we came from, and to the north is mudflats," Lin Qiye said. "The only way to run is to the east."

Looking at him, Gu Qingshuang's doubts about whether he was truly capable vanished completely after those few words. She nodded, lowered her body, and silently disappeared into the shadows.

Lin Qiye waited until she was far away before standing up from behind the boulder.

He walked toward the camp empty-handed, without using a gun or a bone spear.

When he took his first step, he was like a passerby walking in the dark.

As he took his third step, the dark gold emblem on his palm lit up.

Fifth step, he moved.

A dark golden light exploded in the night, like a long-dormant beast suddenly opening its eyes. Before the Blood Raven members by the campfire could react, the first figure had already crashed into the crowd. There were no screams, only dull cracking sounds of bones breaking and thuds of people falling to the ground, one after another, so fast that there was no time to be afraid.

Gu Qingshuang crouched in the shadows on the east side, watching the scene in the camp, her pupils slightly contracted.

She had witnessed murder, many kinds of murder. But she had never seen anyone kill so quickly, so quietly. Almost every blow was a vital point, and every falling body didn't even have time to let out a complete scream. The man moved between the firelight and shadows, his figure as fast as a ghost, his moves as precise as if they had been calculated.

The dozen or so Blood Ravens' men, from the start to the end, took only a few breaths.

The camp fell silent.

Lin Qiye stood by the campfire, glanced at the figures scattered on the ground, then bent down and picked up one who was still panting. It was a young man, huddled in the corner of the tent, trembling with fear, his crotch already wet.

Lin Qiye carried him to the campfire, put him down, and squatted in front of him: "Go back and tell your sect leader."

The young man's lips trembled, unable to speak.

"The Gu family has already taken everything we dug up at Falling Star Beach," Lin Qiye said. "If you want the Zhenyuan Seal, come to the Gu family and ask for it."

After he finished speaking, he patted the young man on the shoulder, stood up, and walked away without looking back.

Behind him, the young man slumped to the ground, staring at the corpses scattered throughout the camp. After a long while, he scrambled and crawled eastward.

Gu Qingshuang emerged from the shadows, watching the fleeing figure, then looked at Lin Qiye, her voice tinged with complexity: "If you let him go back to deliver the message, Blood Raven will come looking for trouble with the Gu family."

"That's exactly what we need them to do," Lin Qiye said. "If they don't come, how can we draw out the people behind them?"

Gu Qingshuang was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "When you get down to business, you're even more like Blood Raven than Blood Raven."

"You flatter me," Lin Qiye said. "Let's go back and report to your aunt."

……

By the time they returned to the Gu residence, it was already late at night.

Gu Ruolan was still awake. She sat in the main room by the light of a lamp, a book lying open on the table in front of her, as if waiting for their return. Hearing footsteps, she looked up, her gaze sweeping over Lin Qiye before settling on Gu Qingshuang. Only after confirming that both of them were unharmed did she put down the book.

"It's done?"

"It's done." Gu Qingshuang sat down opposite her, picked up the now-cold tea on the table, and took a sip. "The camp at Falling Star Beach has been taken down, but one person was left alive to go back and deliver a message. Say that the Zhenyuan Seal is in the hands of the Gu family, and tell them to come and claim it."

Gu Ruolan didn't reply immediately. She looked at Gu Qingshuang, then at Lin Qiye, remained silent for a moment, and suddenly said, "Qingshuang, go and rest. I need to speak with Mr. Lin for a few minutes."

Gu Qingshuang paused for a moment, glanced at Lin Qiye, didn't ask any further questions, and got up to leave. Her footsteps faded into the distance along the corridor.

Only two people remained in the main room.

Gu Ruolan didn't beat around the bush: "You shouldn't have killed all those people from Falling Star Beach."

Lin Qiye looked at her: "We spared her."

"I'm not talking about survivors," Gu Ruolan said. "The Blood Ravens have been digging and setting up camp at Falling Star Beach for three days. If you take them out, their backers will find out tonight. The Gu family will have someone capable of wiping out an entire camp in one night. This will alert the enemy."

"The point is to startle the snake," Lin Qiye said. "Only when the snake is startled will it move. And only when it moves will we be able to see where it is."

Gu Ruolan glanced at him but didn't refute him. She picked up her teacup, took a sip, and suddenly asked, "How long do you plan to stay in Ironwall City?"

"Wait until the Blood Raven arrives."

"Blood Raven won't come." Gu Ruolan put down her teacup. "They won't be foolish enough to charge straight into Ironwall City. They'll wait outside the city, until the Gu family leaves, before making their move."

"Then let them wait," Lin Qiye said. "The longer they wait, the more impatient they'll become."

Gu Ruolan fell silent.

The lamp wick crackled.

She suddenly said, "Qing Shuang has been with me for over ten years, and she's never cared about any outsider like this before."

Lin Qiye did not respond.

"I'm not trying to protect myself from you," Gu Ruolan said calmly. "I just want to remind you. Once this girl has made up her mind about something, nothing can change it. If you don't have those feelings for her, you should make things clear to her as soon as possible, lest she get caught up in it."