Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

Chapter 239 Past Events

The dim candlelight flickered, illuminating the innocent faces of the children in the temple. All the children stared wide-eyed, wide awake, anxiously awaiting what would happen.

The blind old man sat quietly in the corner.

Although he couldn't see what was in front of him, he had learned an important message since yesterday—Zheng Luoqi had sent someone to tell him that Cao Yan would come under cover of darkness tonight, attempting to wipe out everyone here.

Faced with such a crisis, the children did not panic.

Under the direction of several taller children, they began to search for a hiding place in an orderly manner.

Some hid in the secret compartments behind the Buddha statues, while others crawled into the dusty cellars.

In a short while, the entire temple appeared to be empty, but in reality, it concealed a hidden secret.

Just then, Cao Yan, leading a large number of guards, finally arrived in front of the dilapidated temple.

They stopped and carefully observed their surroundings. However, the temple was deathly silent, seemingly unaware of anyone approaching.

Cao Yan slightly raised his hand and gave a wink to one of the guards behind him.

The guard nodded knowingly, then strode to the temple gate. Suddenly, he raised his right leg and kicked the tightly closed door.

With a loud bang, the door was kicked to pieces, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

With that loud bang, a musty, decaying smell wafted out from inside the door.

When the guard kicked open the door, a figure came into view. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an old man dressed in tattered clothes.

At this moment, he was standing quietly beneath a huge Buddha statue.

Moonlight streamed through holes in the temple roof, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow into the main hall.

The old man happened to be standing in one of the shadows, which shrouded his face in darkness, making it difficult to see his true appearance.

Upon suddenly witnessing such a bizarre scene, the guard couldn't help but feel a jolt in his heart. After all, it was quite eerie to suddenly have someone standing there in the middle of the night.

He instinctively took two steps back, but quickly regained his composure and mustered his courage to shout loudly into the temple: "Who's playing tricks on me there?"

A slightly trembling yet powerful voice came from the shadows: "Cao Yan!"

"Do you... still remember me?" the old man asked again, his tone filled with resentment and unwillingness.

"How dare you! How dare you address the old man by his name so presumptuously!" The guards nearby shouted at the top of their lungs when they heard the old man call out Cao Yan's name.

However, Cao Yan, who was standing to the side, seemed not to hear anything, as if he were frozen in place, completely absorbed in his own thoughts.

The extremely familiar voice reached my ears, and all sorts of past memories surged back like a tidal wave.

Not long after, Cao Yan finally came to his senses.

He trembled uncontrollably, pointed his finger directly at the old man, and said in a trembling voice, "It's you... You're still alive? How did you end up here?" His words were full of disbelief.

"Hmph! That's right, it's me! The reason I've lived to this day is to take your head, you dog!" The old man's face was ashen, his eyes fixed on Cao Yan, and he shouted sharply.

Cao Yan was slightly taken aback at first, then as if he suddenly thought of something, the fear on his face gradually disappeared, and was replaced by an extremely arrogant smile.

He sized up the seemingly frail and harmless old man before him, and laughed contemptuously, "Hahahaha... You? You look like this now?"

"I suppose you've lost all your martial arts skills by now. Forget about killing me, you'd probably find it impossible to even get close to me! What can you possibly do to me?"

"What a despicable and shameless scoundrel! It really is you, you heartless and insane person!"

"Back then, when I was seriously injured, they secretly switched my healing pills, causing me to lose all my internal energy and go blind! That's why I ended up like this!" The old man was so angry that his beard and hair stood on end, his face turned red, and the veins on his forehead bulged as if they were about to burst out of his skin.

He roared angrily and took a few shaky steps forward, seemingly wanting to rush forward and fight Cao Yan to the death, but in the end, he was too weak and blind to stop.

Although the two were about the same age, Cao Yan looked much younger than the old man when they stood together.

Cao Yan wore a mocking expression and kept saying, "He Jin, He Jin, so many years have passed, and you are still the same."

"I really can't understand what Huiling saw in you back then? Even after learning that you were no longer alive, she still couldn't forget you!" These words from Cao Yan were like sharp swords piercing He Jin's heart.

Back then, when Cao Yan was traveling alone on his way to the capital for the imperial examination, he was attacked by a group of bandits. He Jin, with his exceptional martial arts skills, quickly defeated the bandits and rescued Cao Yan.

From that time on, these two people with very different personalities forged a deep friendship and became inseparable brothers.

Later, the two of them embarked on a journey to the capital together. It was during this trip that they unexpectedly met a woman from a merchant family named Huiling.

"How dare you even mention Huiling?!" When He Jin's weathered, wrinkled face heard this name, it instantly became extremely ferocious and twisted, consumed by uncontrollable rage.

Back then, Huiling and Hejin were deeply in love. They were young and full of life, but fate always likes to play tricks.

Just as He Jin was happily preparing to confess his feelings to Hui Ling, a sudden turn of events shattered his beautiful illusions.

That day, filled with excitement, He Jin hurried towards where Hui Ling was.

But when he was about to reach his destination, the scene before him struck him like a thunderbolt—Cao Yan was standing in front of Huiling, expressing his feelings to her with deep affection.

In that instant, He Jin felt dizzy and his joy vanished in an instant.

Faced with such an awkward situation, He Jin was caught in an extreme internal struggle.

On the one hand, he couldn't bear to compete with his good brother for the woman he loved; on the other hand, Cao Yan had already passed the imperial examination and was on a bright future, while he himself was just an ordinary commoner with nothing but decent martial arts skills.

In terms of both social status and future prospects, I am indeed far inferior.

After much painful deliberation, He Jin ultimately had no choice but to silently withdraw from this competition for love.

Little did they know, all of this was done deliberately by Cao Yande...