Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

"Stop playing these little tricks, they won't scare Grandpa."

"Go out and have a real fight. If you win, you take the head; if you lose, you just accept your fate."

"This kind of formation is useless except for wasting my time."

Chen Mo's voice echoed through the empty street, his gaze sweeping from the eaves of the houses to the shadows at the alley entrance.

Unfortunately, no traces were found.

There was dead silence all around.

He still couldn't find the person who set up the formation when he threw out the paper figures.

"Alright, you really are a man, I misjudged you."

The sounds came from all directions, like the wind blowing through withered leaves, making it impossible to discern directions.

"Lin Ruoyun, it really is you."

Chen Mo grinned, his eight teeth gleaming in the pale red moonlight.

"Weren't you looking for me? So I came to find you first."

The woman's voice from the shadows continued, "Did you kill Lao Ge and the other two?"

"Of course not."

Chen Mo denied it without even raising an eyebrow, "Director Shen said the murderer was from the Xikai Church, which has nothing to do with me."

A soft laugh came from the shadows, the laugh revealing neither joy nor anger, as if the person was savoring something interesting.

"Besides being ruthless, you're also a bit shameless."

"Sister Lin, you can't just say things that aren't true."

Chen Mo's gaze slowly swept over the surroundings. "It's rather pointless to talk like this. Why don't you come out and meet me, Sister Lin, so we can get straight to the point and have a chat?"

"To avoid misunderstandings and affecting our relationship," he said sincerely, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

"Chen Mo, that's a very eloquent way to put it."

Lin Ruoyun's voice came from all directions, "Get to the point? Let's talk? Why don't you ask me why I'm afraid to come out?"

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow: "Why?"

"Because if I were to stand before you," the voice paused, "the third squad would likely be left with only you."

The smile on Chen Mo's face faded slightly, and something flashed in his eyes.

"Sister Lin, what you're saying is true. It's better to resolve conflicts than to let them fester. If there's any misunderstanding, why don't we just talk it out and clear things up?"

"Yeah?"

A soft laugh came from the shadows, a laugh that sounded somewhat chilly.

"What about Lao Ge and the other two? Did they explain things to you clearly?"

Chen Mo did not respond.

The wind blew from one end of the street, swirling up a few withered leaves that rolled past his feet.

"The night they died, someone used a secret method to find me."

Lin Ruoyun's voice suddenly became very soft, as if she were talking to herself, "It was blocked by my formation. I was thinking at the time, who is so blind as to come and mess with me in the middle of the night?"

"Later I found out that you were the one looking for us that night, weren't you? Chen Mo, Chen Mo, you've really kept it well hidden."

"When you left the alley that day, did you deliberately pretend to be seriously injured to lower our guard?"

Chen Mo's eyelids twitched, but he didn't say anything.

He couldn't very well tell the other person that he had actually passed out that day.

"So young, yet he's already got eight hundred tricks up his sleeve."

The voice suddenly drew closer, as if the speaker had taken a step forward. "If you had revealed your strength earlier, Team Three might be in a different situation now."

"Sister Lin, isn't that a bit unfair of you? We've never had any grudges against each other, and now you're blaming me for taking a knife for you?"

"Fine." He shrugged. "Now we're even. You tricked me once, and I didn't die. As for Lao Ge's matter, we'll settle it separately."

"So, shouldn't Sister Lin come out and make an appointment?"

silence.

Another long silence followed.

Chen Mo was so worried that the other party was about to play some trick when a soft sigh suddenly came from the shadows.

Do you know who named me?

When the woman's voice rang out again, it suddenly sounded different.

"I'm an unwanted child."

"When I was six or seven years old, it was winter."

Lin Ruoyun's voice was very soft, as if she were telling someone else's story.

"My mother died, not from illness, but from being beaten to death. Chapter update reminder: Chapter 128 Cause and Effect, reading address."

"She was a prostitute, the kind who solicits clients. That night, a drunk customer came in, and for some reason, they started fighting."

"When I got back the next morning, she was already dead."

"The landlord rolled up her body and threw it into a mass grave outside the city."

"I followed him, intending to bury my mother, but he kicked me away and called me a jinx and a bastard."

It snowed that evening.

The voice paused for a few seconds, as if in remembrance or trying to calm something down.

"I was squatting alone by the mass grave, guarding my mother's body, not knowing what to do."

"It got dark, and the snow was falling heavier and heavier. I was shivering from the cold. I wanted to run back to the bridge arch, but my legs were frozen and I couldn't stand up."

"Then the stray dogs came."

"They circled around me, their eyes glowing green, waiting for me to freeze to death."

"I know what they're waiting for, because those corpses left unclaimed in the mass graves end up being eaten by them."

"I thought to myself, I guess I'll become like that too."

Lin Ruoyun's voice stopped.

Chen Mo stood still, without saying a word.

Then Lao Ge arrived.

The voice trembled slightly.

"He didn't come to save me."

"He came to the mass grave to test his courage. Back then, he was just a young boy who had just started practicing blood cultivation. His master told him to stay in the graveyard for one night."

"He saw stray dogs surrounding something, thought it was a dead child, and wanted to come over, chase the dogs away, and dig a hole to bury it."

"But when I got closer, I found I was still alive."

"Curled up in a ball, covered in bruises, but still breathing."

"He picked me up, wrapped me in his cotton-padded coat, and ran all morning until he found a family willing to take me in. The family's surname was Lin, and they had no children of their own, so they raised me as their own."

"He named me Ruoyun. He spent several days looking through books and said it was a nice-sounding name that suited me."

"He saved my life."

From the shadows, a very soft inhalation could be heard.

"Tell me, should I stand up for them and seek justice?"

Chen Mo stood there, the moonlight illuminating the expression on his face clearly.

"Should."

Although his voice was not loud, it conveyed a sense of decisiveness.

"Your life was saved by Lao Ge, so it's only right that you seek justice for him."

He raised his eyes, his gaze passing over the shadows and landing somewhere unknown.

"But you harmed me, so it's only right that I seek revenge."

"You have your kindness, and I have my grudges."

"You want to repay my kindness, and I want to take revenge. This matter could never be resolved peacefully from the very beginning."

He stood ramrod straight under the moonlight.

"You, Lin Ruoyun, are a person with a tragic fate. Old Ge saved your life, and it is your duty to avenge him."

"You set a trap to harm me, and I will seek revenge on you as the result."

"Neither of us owes the other a reason."

"So let's not go into those roundabout ways today."

Chen Mo raised his hand and slowly drew the horizontal sword from his waist, the tip of the sword pointing downwards, three inches off the ground.

The wind swept in from the end of the long street, carrying a few tattered pieces of paper that swirled along the ground.

The smell of paper ash mixed with the earthy odor filled my nostrils.

"You set up the formation, I'll break it. Let's settle things once and for all today."

"If you win, you can take my life and go see Lao Ge and the others without me even flinching."

"We lost..."

He paused for a second, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, not in a smile, but just in a slight curve.

"I'll personally take you to see Lao Ge, and we'll settle things once and for all."

The wind stopped.

The whole street was as quiet as a graveyard.

After a long while, a very soft laugh came from the shadows.

There was no sarcasm or hatred in that laughter; instead, it sounded like a sigh of relief.

"Chen Mo".

Lin Ruoyun's voice gathered from all directions.

"You're more interesting than I thought."