Chapter 1423 - 417: So You Were the Real Employer! (6k)_2

Shen Hanyi’s gaze was like a blade, every word like ice: "Third Uncle, Shen Lieyang!"

Su Yurou’s pupils shrank abruptly. She stared at her in disbelief: "How could you know?"

Shen Hanyi kept silent.

"You already know everything, yet you’ve endured until now without making a move against your third uncle," Su Yurou’s voice trembled slightly, "a temperament like that is truly terrifying."

The joints of Shen Hanyi’s sword hand cracked with a harsh sound.

If not for today’s Imaging Stone and Zhou Qing’s testimony, she wouldn’t have dared be certain that this third uncle who had cultivated a Second Nascent Soul was actually in collusion with the Flying Thief Alliance.

Shen Hanyi’s silence made Su Yurou even more unable to read her, unsure what else she knew, how many secrets she still hid.

After a brief pause for thought, Su Yurou said faintly, "Since your third uncle can send out an avatar to act, why can’t I?"

"Why would he do this?" Shen Hanyi asked coldly.

Su Yurou sighed lightly: "You even need to ask? Your father was too dazzling. Whether in cultivation talent or business sense, when a person is flawless, they will inevitably draw jealousy and hatred."

Shen Hanyi’s eyes dimmed: "In the end, it’s just for the position of Family Head."

"Yes, but not only that." Su Yurou shook her head.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It’s driven by jealousy." Su Yurou’s lips curved slightly as she spoke slowly, "Your father must have figured that out over the years as well."

She paused, a flash of mockery passing through her eyes: "As the youngest son, he was favored by the old master from childhood, and his cultivation progress far outstripped that of his three elder brothers."

"Whenever the Noble Families mention the Shen Family, the first name on their lips is Shen Juefeng. Your uncles and great-uncles don’t even count as supporting cast."

"Later he married your mother, such a peerless beauty, and had both a son and a daughter." She let out a soft sigh. "At a gathering of the Eight Great Families, the old master even declared openly that he would pass the position to him."

"The first half of your father’s life was simply too smooth—so smooth it made everyone envy, resent, and hate him!"

Su Yurou’s gaze was deep, half-smiling: "Put yourself in their place. What do you think your uncles and great-uncles would feel?"

Shen Hanyi said nothing.

"But they’re his blood kin!"

"Precisely because they’re blood kin, such disparity is even less tolerable." Su Yurou let out a cold laugh. "One person’s brilliance can bring glory to the family, but it can just as well become the clan’s calamity."

"All the more when your father’s radiance doesn’t just shine on the Shen Family—before him the Noble Families feared being surpassed, behind him his own clan feared being suppressed."

"That rainy night incident was, in truth, the result of everyone fanning the flames."

Shen Hanyi’s whole body trembled violently, and her Ice Sword suddenly pressed against Su Yurou’s heart.

"Then," her voice was cold enough to cut bone, "what role do you play in this game?"

Su Yurou suddenly broke into a smile: "Nothing more than a spectator."

Shen Hanyi’s cold eyes fixed on her.

Su Yurou said leisurely, "I can swear, whether it was harming your mother or hiring the Blood Contract Pavilion to kill you, none of it has anything to do with me."

"Then why did this Imaging Stone suddenly end up in my hands?" Shen Hanyi asked in a frigid tone.

"The Shen Family is too peaceful. It’s really boring." Su Yurou chuckled softly.

"I thought I’d stir up a bit of excitement. Especially now that you have the ability to churn this stagnant pond. That’s all there is to it. I just didn’t expect you to zero in on me so quickly."

Shen Hanyi was silent for a moment, in the end not striking. Instead she asked, "Who hired the Blood Contract Pavilion to kill me?"

"That I truly don’t know. Believe it or not." Su Yurou spread her hands.

"Then what does Second Aunt think their reason is for wanting me dead?"

Su Yurou’s smile deepened: "It’s very simple—because you’re too much like your father. Back then, your father turned his three elder brothers into mere background. Now you’ve made your cousins pale in comparison."

Shen Hanyi sheathed her sword and turned away, tilting her head slightly: "I’ve considered that reason before, but it always felt too far-fetched."

"Hearing it from your mouth now, it still sounds absurd." Her voice grew colder. "I will avenge my mother myself. If you truly had a part in it, I will never let you off."

At her words, Su Yurou only smiled even more lazily: "All right. It’s a pity I only know so much—otherwise I’d tell you everything. But you mustn’t sell me out."

Shen Hanyi said no more, turning into a streak of flowing light that vanished into the sky.

Su Yurou shifted into a more comfortable position against the chair, gazing toward the direction she’d left. Her eyes were complicated as she murmured softly, "The greatest malice in the human heart lies in hating you for having, and laughing at you for not."

"Sometimes, the most absurd reason is precisely the truest answer."

...

The night was as black as ink, a cold moon hanging high.

In a desolate mountain manor, weeds grew wild, and between broken walls and crumbling eaves, a rotting stench pervaded.

At this moment, a rough-faced middle-aged man with gloomy eyes was sitting alone at the stone table in the center of the courtyard.

The stone table was thick with dust, mottled cracks crawling across its surface.

The man silently tipped his head back and poured down a mouthful of liquor. His Adam’s apple rolled; the strong drink burned as it went down, a searing heat spreading out from his chest.

The night wind swept past, carrying a faint chill.

He squinted, raised his head again, and took another swig, faster this time; the liquor swirled in his mouth before he swallowed.

The night wind keened, lifting a few dead leaves that twirled at his feet.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared soundlessly at the courtyard gate.

The newcomer wore a black robe, a ferocious Bronze Mask on his face, revealing only a pair of deep eyes that gleamed with a cold, eerie light in the moon glow.

Second Granduncle didn’t even lift his head, took another gulp of wine, and rasped, "You’re here?"

The black-robed man did not answer. He simply walked closer, flicked his sleeve, and a sheet of paper thin as a cicada’s wing drifted down onto the stone table.

Second Granduncle squinted at it; under the moonlight, the words "Shen Family fourth branch’s eldest daughter—Shen Hanyi" were especially glaring.

His pupils tightened slightly as he thought to himself, "So that brat really guessed right."

"The deposit has been paid," the black-robed man’s voice was hoarse and indistinct, like sandpaper scraping, "within a month, I want to see results."

The Blood Contract Pavilion’s rule is that the employer pays first; the pavilion then assesses the target’s strength before sending out a killer.