It was as if everything around her was dead silent, she couldn't hear a single sound. She couldn't hear Xavier raging and killed his way to Qiang Jun Hei—who apparently was the archer that shot Fu Hanyu. She couldn't hear the people who stopped fighting, started to fight again. She couldn't hear Qiang Jingyi calling for her multiple times. She placed her hand against his chest, not minding the blood, and couldn't hear his heart beating. Then, she moved her hand up to his face, only to feel it being completely cold, not a single warmth could be detected.

Ah, he's really gone...

Lin Xinglan didn't know how she should feel; she felt complicated. Fu Hanyu was clearly her childhood enemy whom she detested and always wished for his death—but here he was, dying but she didn't feel happy or relieved. It was clear that without Fu Hanyu, everything would become peaceful for her again. She was supposed to hate him, she was supposed to be delighted, not feeling empty and complicated. She didn't want to believe it but she had to face the reality.

How cruel fate was, she wanted to say a simple sentence to him with a sincere smile; 'Thank you for saving me, Hanyu.'

But it was too late, her chance was gone—forever, and so was he.

Lin Xinglan was absent-mindedly staring at Fu Hanyu until she was snapped back to her senses by Qiang Jingyi.

"Lan, you have to get up now!" He shouted as he kept counter attacking his enemies, protecting her.

Right, she was still in the middle of a battle. Lin Xinglan had forgotten about it but nonetheless, she gently placed Fu Hanyu on the ground before she got up. Qiang Jingyi pulled her to his side as he slashed his sword against the people attacking him.

Kicking the last one away from them, Qiang Jingyi stabbed the enemy to kill him off. Afterwards, he shook his sword to get rid of as much blood as possible off the blade and sheathed it. All the people on Qiang Jun Hei's side got eliminated—although both Qiang Jingyi's and Fu Hanyu's sides had lost some of their men too. Even Qiang Jun Hei was not spared. He was ruthlessly killed by Xavier, who was still furious but no more than how he felt grief-stricken over his young master's death.

Knowing that their young master had died, none of his people felt the need to continue with the fight after killing Qiang Jun Hei and his guards. What was the use of some treasure if their young master was no longer alive. Who would they follow now? What were they going to do from now on? Why did their young master have to die? They mourned.

Xavier was covered in blood but he didn't care a bit, he soullessly walked up to his young master and picked him up from the ground. He tenderly carried him in his arms as if he was a fragile treasure that needed to be handled with extra care. His young master was gone and he didn't know what to do without him; he had never imagined himself living without his young master. He always thought he would stay by his side forever. His young master was his savior and master. His chest felt suffocating, he had hard to breathe and it was as if he would collapse soon in despair. He didn't want to accept it, he refused to accept it; his young master died and he wasn't able to do a single thing about it. He couldn't save him, he just stood and watched him fade away.

Xavier admitted; it hurt a lot, he didn't like the pain he was feeling. He wanted it to be gone.

Walking away from the scene, Xavier shot Lin Xinglan a fierce glare with full of hatred; he did his best to control his urges to kill that damned woman. His young master had died while he was saving her; if he killed her, he would be wasting his young master's death. Lin Xinglan winced when she saw how Xavier was looking at her.

Xavier gritted his teeth, "You are lucky I won't kill you. However, don't you dare forget what young master has done for you. I will never forgive you."

With that, he called his other companions together and left the forest. No one knew where they were heading to and from now then, nobody had heard from them ever again.

Watching Lin Xinglan being absent minded, Qiang Jingyi sighed and hugged her.

"It's not your fault."

"But.. It is, isn't it?" She quietly mumbled.

"If he saw you like this, how do you think he would react?"

Lin Xinglan hesitated before she said, "He would get disgusted with me and mock me for being dumb... He would shut me up and tell me to mind my own business..."

"Mhm. If you know that, don't blame yourself."

Frowning, she looked at him, "I still indirectly killed him. One way or another. If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have gotten himself killed."

Qiang Jingyi helplessly looked at her, he didn't want her to think of his enemy but he knew what was going on between her and Fu Hanyu. However, this time he would let it go. He caressed her cheek before he pinched it, making her surprised.

"W-what?"

Qiang Jingyi squeezed it and said, "Then, I killed him too. Everyone killed him. If I saw the arrows, I could have saved him. If Xavier had paid more attention to him, he would had protected him. It was that disgusting man's fault for wanting to kill you, causing Fu Hanyu to die. It was Qiang Jun Hei's fault for killing him.... And Fu Hanyu got killed because he killed the disgusting man for you, leaving an opportunity for Qiang Jun Hei to kill him. Everyone has a part of it. Do you feel better now?"

Lin Xinglan was utterly speechless, she wasn't sure how his mind was functioning, "You... Even if it's like that, I'm still the sole reason."

Letting go off her cheek, Qiang Jingyi grunted and quietly replied, "Then... Don't forget about him. Didn't he tell you to not forget him? Then don't. That's enough."

Suddenly, her eyes became more teary and she wrapped her arms around his waist to hug him.

"I wasn't ready for that... All this...."

Qiang Jingyi shushed her, "I know... I know, Lan..."

Meanwhile Qiang Jingyi consoled Lin Xinglan, his people were taking care of their injuries and seeing that very scene, they could only sigh. They had also lost their fellow companions but they were soldiers; they were used to losing people close to them. They had steeled their heart and prepared for it but for the girl who had yet married, it was different.

Zaki Yaman, who walked around to check on the soldiers, noticed the white jade box on the ground; it was spotless even after everything had happened, there were no cracks and it was still shiny. Zaki Yaman couldn't help but think it was strange. He picked it up and went up to Qiang Rong Kai.

"Third prince, take a look at this."

Qiang Rong Kai took the box and examined it, "Hm... Really clean. Too clean. I have never seen such type of jade before... It's also lightweight, quite convenient. But this... Shouldn't we open it first to see what's inside?"

Zaki Yaman nodded in agreement. There was no lock and seemed to have an easy access to it.

Not wasting time, Qiang Rong Kai opened the jade lid and grabbed the rough paper inside. He raised his eyebrow quizzically before he unfolded the paper. Once he read what was written on it, his face instantly blackened. Zaki Yaman was confused over Qiang Rong Kai's reaction since he couldn't see what it said.

"Let me see, let me see!"

Zaki Yaman snatched the paper from him to read it and after he did that, he regretted it. To prove that he wasn't dreaming, he pinched himself so hard he let out a pained noise. Knowing that he wasn't, he wanted to faint and cry at the same time. He was pissed.

"This is impossible! What about our priceless treasures?! Don't joke with me! This shitty thing!"

His outburst caught everyone's attention, especially Qiang Jingyi's and Lin Xinglan's.

Qiang Jingyi frowned, "What is it, Zaki Yaman?"

Zaki Yaman immediately ran up to Qiang Jingyi with the paper, "We have been wronged, your highness! Everything we sacrificed has been for naught, I'm telling you! Look at this!"

Reading the words that was on the paper Zaki Yaman showed him, Qiang Jingyi's aura became dark and heavy. It was full of bloodlust. Lin Xinglan didn't feel the atmosphere becoming strange and looked at the paper once she saw Qiang Jingyi's expression, wondering what had made him look like that.

Thus, she looked at the paper to read it too and she finally knew why Qiang Jingyi looked pissed. They had been played by someone.

'Just kidding!'

Lin Xinglan, having shorter temper than Qiang Jingyi, it was naturally for her to also get pissed and furious.

"Are you fucking kidding with me?!"

Everything they had done, the people who had died because of the treasure they all believed to exist, this was what they got in return? In the end, were their deaths for nothing? Even Fu Hanyu's? Everyone was depressed when they found out they got nothing in return. They had been tricked by someone and they didn't even know who. There were no traces to track the mastermind; they were utterly defeated. How could they accept that? No one did. But what could be done? There was nothing they could do but to suffer for their lost.

***

On a mountain far away from where Qiang Jingyi and his people were, an old man was sitting leisurely while a younger man stood beside him.

The younger man watched the old man enjoying drinking his tea, he sneered, "You have such a bad taste."

"I don't need your opinion, thank you very much."

"Please, I lost the bet against you and I listened to your orders. Scheming and tricking that young master Fu Hanyu and even played along with him, that was the worst thing I've ever experienced."

The old man laughed, "Don't lie, you had fun. Admit it, won't you?"

"Hah? Like I would do that. You're the one who enjoyed it. Not only did you play some teahouse game, you even disguised yourself like an old man. To think you have such a hobby. Quite disgusting, isn't? You planned everything from the very beginning."

"Say, Yu Shun, calling your best friend such names... Don't you feel ashamed at all?" The old man shook his head in disappointment until he suddenly fell off from the chair.

"How dare you kick me!"

The younger man, Yu Shun, snorted, "I wasn't done. You even used Xiao Heise as a tool, making him pretend to be a stray cat to monitor Qiang Jingyi and that girl. You acted like someone irrelevant while scheming like a madman. What are you, a pervert? Take off your disgusting disguise."

The other man, who was supposed to be an old man, sighed and in a flash, his appearance changed him into a handsome man with long silky white hair.

The white haired handsome man frowned, "Are you happy now? Stop exposing me so openly. Why are you hating on me so much?"

Veins popped in his forehead, Yu Shun was irritated with the man; he had always tried to get into his nerves every time they met.

"Wen Bai, don't you dare think I won't poison you to death. After all the things you made me do, you think I'm not angry at you?"

The white haired man named Wen Bai shrugged his shoulders as he leisurely replied, "You can only blame yourself for losing the bet."

"Fuck you!"

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And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of this story. But hold on, don't forget there will be 3 bonus chapters afterwards. I think you will want to read them as they have to do with Lan, Jin-Jin and Fu.

See you next time.