Chapter Six: Lotus in the Rain

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The night was deep, shrouding countless crimes within its darkness, yet the courtyard behind the gambling house was even more sinister and terrifying than the night itself.

The torrential rain poured down, making the cellar beneath the gambling den even damper and more oppressive.

Inside the cellar, blood pooled and dripped, dismembered limbs strewn about, filth everywhere. Within an iron-barred cage, there sat a fair-skinned girl, around ten years old, a small mole at the corner of her mouth. She was not beautiful, but her presence bloomed like a lotus in full flower. Her eyes were open, tranquil as drifting dust.

Before the cage, two men stood guard. One was Wang Hai, shod in shoes embroidered with python patterns; the other was a dark-complexioned companion with a blood-red scar across his face. He said, "Wang Hai, I heard your daughter is ill. Haven't you gone to see her?"

"That yellow-faced shrew and I have fallen out. She can raise that daughter however she likes," Wang Hai replied indifferently. "I couldn't care less about them."

"I think your heart is set on Yun Cui Xian, isn't it? Once Chu Youcai can't repay his debt, you'll definitely want to take advantage of her!"

Wang Hai nodded, sneering, "No silver house in Yan City would lend to a fallen man, so he's left with no choice but to use Yun Cui Xian as collateral."

His companion smirked, "You've had your eye on her for a long time, haven't you? Last year, you lured Chu Youcai to the gambling den just for this day, didn't you?"

"I'm only following orders," Wang Hai replied with a false smile, all teeth and no warmth. "But Chu Youcai is doomed. Even if he scrapes together enough money, the repayment date is today, and with our interest compounding over three days, he'll never be able to pay it back."

"Brilliant, just brilliant!"

At that moment, a faint noise came from outside. Wang Hai barked, "Who's there?"

"It's me," came a muffled voice from outside the cellar, belonging to an armored guard who coughed a few times as he approached.

Wang Hai relaxed, cursing, "Old Hei, why do you walk so quietly?"

The guard gave no answer, slowly walked to the cellar, removed his armor, leaned his silver spear against the outer wall, shook off the rain from his shoulders, took off his cloak—already soaked through—and set the armor down, wordless, as if he intended to sleep against the wall.

In the rain and mist, the guard's face was clearly that of Chu Youcai.

Not long after, the scar-faced companion slipped out to the back courtyard to relieve himself. When he was far from Wang Hai, he spat and muttered, "That guy would betray his own kin. I’d better not fall into his trap..."

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Suddenly, a flash of cold light cut through the darkness, plunging into his chest. Before he could cry out, a hand covered his mouth, twisted with brutal force, snapping his neck instantly. The dagger withdrew from his chest, blood spurting onto the ground.

Chu Youcai gently laid the corpse down. After enduring the hellish trials within the Tuo Long Shan He Pearl, he found the man's momentary lapse riddled with openings—killing him had been effortless.

Pressing the dagger against the back of his hand, Chu Youcai returned to the door, picked up the spear, and slowly pushed open the room. Wang Hai, at that moment, was leering wickedly at the girl in the cage. Hearing the noise behind him, he muttered, "Tsk, if the boss hadn't forbidden it, I’d have had my way with her..."

In a flash, Chu Youcai swung the spear like a silver serpent, crossing the three-meter distance in an instant and driving it into Wang Hai's back.

Wang Hai convulsed in pain, tried to turn, but Chu Youcai yanked back the spear, tossed it aside, strode forward, and with a heavy kick knocked Wang Hai to the ground. Planting a foot on his chest, Chu Youcai reversed the dagger, pressing it coldly against Wang Hai's throat. "Wang Hai, long time no see," he said icily.

Wang Hai, drenched in blood and gritting his teeth with pain, recognized Chu Youcai's face and was so terrified that he forgot his agony and began begging for his life. "It wasn’t my idea! The boss gave the order! I had no choice!"

Chu Youcai demanded, "Who is your boss? Why does he want to harm me?"

Wang Hai’s mind raced, but his face fell into a look of desperate anguish. "I don't know who the boss is. Young master, I have a sick wife and daughter—please, have mercy!"

"You really care about your sick family?" Chu Youcai let out a cold laugh.

Wang Hai, thinking he saw hope, put on a pitiful expression. "They live near the gambling house. If you spare me, I’ll give you my wife and daughter—they’ll serve you without complaint!"

Chu Youcai’s voice was frigid. "I’m only asking you—who is your boss? Where did you get those python-patterned shoes?"

Wang Hai shuddered at the thought of the boss. "He gave them to me, but I truly don't know who he is. He always wears a mask. He said if I made you sell your wife, he’d give me a hundred taels of silver..."

"Forcing the innocent into prostitution, disowning your own kin, abandoning your family without a second thought—Wang Hai, you deserve nothing but the wrath of heaven and earth." Seeing he could learn nothing more, Chu Youcai tore open Wang Hai's clothes and drove the dagger deep into his chest. Blood spurted from every orifice. Wang Hai tried to struggle, but Chu Youcai pinned him down until all movement ceased and life left his body.

Chu Youcai’s gaze was now as resolute as stone.

He felt keenly the power of the Tuo Long Shan He Pearl. Though he had only two years of life left, the year spent upon the glacier had honed his will and killing intent, giving him the strength to survive in the seemingly festive yet filthy city of Yan Prefecture. He hadn’t even needed to use the Tuo Long Palm—one strike sufficed to kill this villain.

Chu Youcai washed the blood from his hands and the spear tip with rainwater in the courtyard, then donned the cloak and armor, picked up the silver spear, and returned to the room. With a twist, he broke the crude lock on the cage and said to the girl inside, "Come with me."

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The girl had watched the entire scene unfold in silence. Now, seeing Chu Youcai break open the cage, a faint light finally flickered in her eyes. Yet she remained as calm as drifting dust, her face unchanged, quietly following behind him.

The secret sentries at the several courtyard gates had already been dealt with by Chu Youcai, so he left the compound unimpeded.

The rain poured ever harder, yet people continued to stream into the gambling house. But seeing the armored guard, none dared look too closely, let alone pay attention to the girl at his side.

Thus, they reached a crossroads. Chu Youcai said to the girl, "Go now. Hurry home. Leave Yan Prefecture."

Still she said nothing, only stood silently as the rain washed over her face. Like a lotus in the storm, she rose unstained from the mud—unremarkable in beauty, yet possessing a unique presence.

"Are you homeless?" Chu Youcai asked, momentarily taken aback.

She gave no reply, only gazed at him with a stubborn, luminous look, as if seeing straight into his heart.

"The boss values you highly. If you’re found again, escape won’t come so easily. Take this dagger to defend yourself." Chu Youcai, anxious about Yun Cui Xian back home after having been out half the day, handed the dagger to the girl and strode off into the distance.

Thunder rumbled as the downpour intensified. Chu Youcai had gone a fair distance when he heard a crashing sound behind him. A nearby shack, its oilcloth roof propped up by bamboo poles, had collapsed under the weight of the rain. Looking back, Chu Youcai saw the girl still standing exactly where he had left her, as if, in that rain-soaked world, she was utterly alone.

The sense of loneliness was overwhelming—just like his days in the icy world of the Tuo Long Shan He Pearl, speaking only to himself, just to remember he existed.

"She must be mute," Chu Youcai thought, pity stirring in his heart. He returned to her. The girl, eyes clearer than ever in the rain, stared at him with unwavering persistence.

Chu Youcai gently patted her head and shook his head resolutely. "I'm in grave danger. I can’t take you with me. The world is vast—there’s always somewhere to survive, even if you have no home."

Just as he turned to leave with determination, the girl suddenly uttered a clear, crystalline voice that pierced through even the tempest: "Take me with you, and I’ll tell you who their boss really is!"