Obtaining Top Art on Family's Extermination Night

Fang Shuwen had made himself perfectly clear. To shamelessly insist on following now would be utterly inappropriate.

...

...

The Hongyun Inn wasn’t hard to find. Anyone could point the way if you just asked around.

The inn was massive. Beyond the main building, there were numerous sections in the back, each composed of small, individual courtyards.

The Celestial Wolf Institute was one of them.

Fang Shuwen led Fang Lingxin and Shui Qianrou straight to the entrance of the Celestial Wolf Institute. He was about to knock when his hand froze.

Fang Lingxin sniffed the air.

"Do you smell that?"

"It’s the stench of blood."

A bad feeling rose in Fang Shuwen’s heart. He pushed the main gate open and, just as he’d feared, saw more than ten bodies lying scattered on the ground.

A trail of blood led from the entrance all the way into the main house.

The bodies were all dressed in water-blue attire. Shui Qianrou took one look, and her face went pale.

"They’re... They’re from the Celestial Water Palace!"

As she spoke, she started running toward the main house, but Fang Shuwen grabbed her and held her back.

There was no one hiding in the room, but with so many dead, caution was paramount.

He told Shui Qianrou to stay calm and walked toward the main house himself. As he reached the door, he saw a body lying beside a table.

It was a middle-aged woman.

Fang Shuwen breathed a small sigh of relief. ’At least it’s not Shui Qianliu.’

He was about to step inside, but just as he lifted his foot, he set it back down.

Shui Qianrou didn’t understand, but she didn’t dare to act rashly. She watched as Fang Shuwen crouched down, peered intently for a moment, then gestured for her and Fang Lingxin to move to the sides.

He then stood up, moved aside himself, and suddenly struck out with his palm.

His Palm Power landed invisibly, yet it seemed to trigger some sort of mechanism. With a WHOOSH, an arrow shot out from the corpse.

It finally embedded itself in a tree in the courtyard.

The end of the arrow shaft quivered ceaselessly.

Shui Qianrou’s face was already ashen from seeing so many people from the Celestial Water Palace meet a violent end. Now, witnessing this, she nearly cried out in alarm.

Fang Lingxin also gasped.

"They set a trap on the corpse?

"How ruthless!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Not just ruthless, but also incredibly composed."

Fang Shuwen felt around on the ground for a moment and picked up a nearly invisible thread.

Held in his hand, it was easy to see, but if stretched taut, it would be nearly impossible to discern in the sunlight.

"This is..."

Shui Qianrou’s gaze fell upon the thread, and her expression shifted.

"You recognize it?"

Fang Shuwen asked. ’It feels a bit like the Celestial Concealing Silk used by the person who controlled Shui Qianrou that night,’ he thought.

’But it isn’t as imperceptible as Celestial Concealing Silk.’

’If it had been Celestial Concealing Silk, even I would have had a hard time spotting it just now.’

Shui Qianrou simply nodded.

"This is Water Silk from the Celestial Water Palace."

"?"

’Water and silk? How are those two things related?’

Shui Qianrou explained to Fang Shuwen that Water Silk came from a unique species. While ordinary silkworms ate mulberry leaves, water silkworms consumed water—specifically, the "Celestial Water" produced in the Celestial Water Palace.

Like regular silkworms, these water silkworms also spun silk, but it was far tougher and became invisible in water.

Soft Armor woven from Water Silk was impervious to fire, and if the wearer was in water, its defensive properties surpassed that of any divine weapon or other soft armor.

The material could also be woven into a weapon. Within the Celestial Water Palace, there was a specialized technique called the Celestial Silkworm Butterfly Dance that utilized it.

Its movements were graceful, its killing intent invisible.

After hearing this, Fang Shuwen grew thoughtful and asked Shui Qianrou another question.

"Do you know the person in here?"

Shui Qianrou nodded, her eyes already brimming with tears.

"That’s Auntie Shui Man.

"Auntie Shui Man was my mother’s right hand. Ever since I was little... she was the one who raised me."

Seeing her fight back tears, Fang Shuwen sighed. He stepped into the room and swept his gaze around. There were almost no signs of a struggle.

He glanced at the bodies outside; they had all fallen with their heads pointing toward the door.

And then there was the Water Silk...

It was obvious that someone from the Celestial Water Palace, someone Shui Man knew very well, had killed her.

The attack must have come from someone she trusted; Shui Man was caught completely off guard and killed by their hand.

The guards outside heard the commotion and rushed over, only to be cut down one by one.

That was why they had fallen facing the direction of the door.

And after the slaughter, the killer had unhurriedly returned to the corpse and set a trap using the Water Silk.

That was why Fang Shuwen had said the person was incredibly composed.

Fang Shuwen then examined Shui Man’s wound. A single, clean sword thrust to the heart.

"In your Celestial Water Palace, how many people are masters of swordsmanship, people of exceptionally high skill?"

Fang Shuwen asked Shui Qianrou.

Shui Qianrou was taken aback, but she answered honestly.

"Our Celestial Water Palace doesn’t have many swordsmanship lineages, so very few people practice with the sword.

"As for the one whose swordsmanship is the most profound..."

She had only spoken this far when a look of utter terror suddenly washed over her face, as if she had realized something horrifying.

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from outside the gate.

A voice called out.

"Where are the guards? Why is the gate... Not good!!"

By this point, the speaker had clearly seen the bodies in the courtyard.

A sudden rush of wind was heard, and in the blink of an eye, a group of more than ten people appeared in the courtyard. Some stared at the bodies on the ground in utter disbelief. One burly man, however, noticed the figures in the room. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and without a word of question, he lunged forward, thrusting a palm strike through the doorway!

Fang Shuwen’s brow furrowed slightly. Instead of retreating, he advanced. With a flick of his five fingers, he executed the *Plum Blossom Scattering Hand*, instantly locking his grip onto the attacker’s wrist.

He then pressed his other hand against the man’s torso and gave a casual push. The man stumbled backward three steps—THUMP, THUMP, THUMP—his face a mask of horrified astonishment.