In those ten years, in which he had been living as neither man nor ghost, his heart was iron and stone--never once uncertain, and never once panicked. Shouldering the responsibility of the Four Seasons Manor as a child of fifteen, meeting the Crown Prince Helian Yi by chance which sparked his youthful heroism at eighteen, establishing Tian Chuang single-handedly at twenty-three; all that he should have done, he had completed.
Even if his name could not be recorded in the annals, the mountains and the rivers of this nation were monuments of his contributions.
As Zhou Zishu said this, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, making it seem even more like a grimace. But the gaze he cast over on them was like the sweep of a frosty beam of light; in that instant, Huang Daoren hesitated in his steps, and an urge to retreat suddenly surfaced in his heart. But after glimpsing Yu Qiufeng in the corner of his eye, he had no choice but to stand firm.
Huang Daoren had always felt that Yu Qiufeng and his dead son were superficial pretty faces; they were useless at everything, and could only rely on their sect--which was steadily waning by the day--to sufficiently maintain appearances to squeeze themselves into being included amongst the few major sects. Cangsan Sect had always had good relations with Huashan Sect all along, and Huang Daoren felt that he was helping these pretty but useless faces out in all aspects on behalf of their sect ties. For one, he could brag about how honourable he was, and for another, he pitied Yu Qiufeng.
In front of such a pitiful and cowardly man, how could Huang Daoren retreat?
He silently drew an evaluation of the large crowd behind him, and was instantly assured, thinking, there are so many of us; even if each one of us only stamped on you once, it's enough to flatten you into noodles. And thus he shouted with great vigour, "What's there to talk to him about, we'll know once we arrest and interrogate him!"
His voice was an explosion right by Yu Qiufeng's ear; frowning lightly, Yu Qiufeng distractedly fanned himself a few times with that landscape-illustrated fan, his face tilted slightly to the side. He was thoroughly annoyed by having to team up with cads like Huang Daoren, feeling that other than his plain looks, his actions and manner was more like a village hooligan's--even the pig-slaughtering, meat-dicing butcher at the market was more refined than he was. Not only was Huang Daoren simple-minded, but he also still liked to run about, with villages within ten li able to hear his voice once he opened his mouth as if he was afraid that no one knew he was there.
Yu Qiufeng regarded Zhou Zishu with a frosty smile and didn't pick up where Huang Daoren had left off, thinking that if it weren't for the weakening might of the Huashan Sect in these recent years, and that he was worried that it would be difficult for them to succeed without support, how would he be willing to claim brotherhood with this sort of slimy person? If this dumbass was willing to take the charge, he would let him; it was just as well that these two people were of unknown background and undetermined expertise, and no one knew what kind of attitude the descendant of the ancient monk held. He would use Huang Daoren to test the waters.
And thus something awkward happened--Huang Daoren's intention was for Yu Qiufeng to pick up from where he had left off once he was done shouting, and have the crowd behind him swarm all at once thereafter, so he would not have to put in any effort and could still wait smugly off to one side. Yet, he had not expected Yu Qiufeng to remain silent, waiting for him to charge ahead into danger. Unclear of the situation, the crowd behind Huang Daoren only stared at him, and no one moved a single step.
Tens of people clogged the narrow alleyway, but in that instant, not one person spoke up, leaving the alley in pindrop silence.
In half a lifetime's worth of existence, Wen Kexing had never witnessed such a bizarre sight. He had always been the sort to laugh when he wanted, cry when he desired, and play the ruffian when he felt like it—not bothering to be polite, he cackled uproariously, pointing at Huang Daoren as he booed, "I say, don't tell me that the few of you didn't rehearse this properly and have forgotten your lines? Get off the stage, how is it that you dare come perform the opera when you haven't even familiarised yourself with the steps? You won't earn any tips from anyone."
After observing the situation for half a beat, Ye Baiyi said, "What is this nonsense." And turned to leave, neglecting Liu Qianqiao. In a flash, there was no trace of his white figure.
Thinking this entire encounter a circus, Zhou Zishu did not feel like entertaining these people any longer. He made to leave, but Huang Daoren gave a strange shout of, "Kid, don't think you can go!", and pounced. Zhou Zishu's figure straightened all of a sudden, and without looking back, he ordered, "Get lost!" A whirl of his long sleeve birthed two gusts of force; with great accuracy, one hit Huang Daoren in the shoulder, the other on his knee, and Huang Daoren was really as well-behaved as a filial child, rolling away obediently.
Wen Kexing was laughing so hard that he had to support himself with the wall, unable to stand straight. It was his first time discovering that this Zhou Xu was not only likable, but also had a sense of mischief that he did not realise he himself possessed, and this was too interesting.
But tragedy struck before he was done laughing; while everyone's attention was focused on Zhou Zishu, Yu Qiufeng suddenly caused trouble. His long sword whistled as it left the scabbard, thrust towards Wen Kexing's neck without warning.
Even though each word of his earlier was aimed at Zhou Zishu as if he had not seen Wen Kexing at all, he had actually been secretly taking note of him--even if Wen Kexing had turned into ashes, the elegant Huashan Sect Leader would still remember that it was he, who had made him tumble so disgracefully in front of so many onlookers. If he didn't get revenge for this, Yu Qiufeng felt that he was disgracing his own identity as a man--of course, this was pure overthinking on Sect Leader Yu's part, because even if he had gotten revenge, not even a fool on this earth would treat him as a man.
Wen Kexing slapped his palm on the wall and bent backwards, near horizontally, to dodge the blow. Determined, Yu Qiufeng's sword arrived yet again in a flurry of strokes, each more vicious than the last. Wen Kexing was even more baffled. That day, he had really downed a lot of wine, and had been completely sloshed, unable to recall what year or day it had been; he had long forgotten about that "trivial misunderstanding" with Sect Leader Yu, and even if he had remembered, he would probably not think much of it--Yu Qiufeng wasn't a prissy young maiden that needed to preserve her own beauty and face. If he tumbled, so be it, what was the big deal?
So he had entirely no clue how he, an "innocent" passer-by, had offended this Sect Leader Yu. Looking at his opponent's attacks, it was as if he had snatched his wife--Wen Kexing felt very wronged, because men, in general, did not have male wives.
He didn't retaliate, retreating without rest, saying, "Say, what do you mean by this?"
Yu Qiufeng gave a cold chuckle. "Those of unorthodox paths are of abominable evil. The masses demand for them to be clobbered, it is fruitless to explain this, die!"
Wen Kexing tilted his face to the side, avoiding the single thrust, and stuck out two fingers with accuracy, trapping Yu Qiufeng's sword in between them. He scoffed, "Demand for them to be clobbered? My apologies, I'm not a rat, and I'm begging you to do this kind deed--don't come after me bearing deep grudges like you're rat poison!"
He made a soft noise of exertion, and Yu Qiufeng's sword snapped in his hand.
In the pugilist world, among the greatest ways one could humiliate someone else, shattering someone's weapon ranked right behind killing someone's father and snatching their wife.
Yu Qiufeng's eyes reddened. He drove a palm towards Wen Kexing's chest right as he leapt to send a kick flying at his crotch, his movements swift like he had honed each strike through intense practice. Thankfully, after Huang Daoren had "rolled" away, the crowd behind him that seemed to be enjoying the show finally realised that they should be eradicating evil and went to pester Zhou Zishu--no one noticed that in this overlooked corner, the Huashan Sect Leader was putting up a performance of the "Teasing Yin Kick" in front of the crowd!
Mm, strange events occurred every year, but there were particularly many of them this year!
Leaning sideways, Wen Kexing raised his knee and landed it right on Yu Qiufeng's thigh. Instantly, a crack could be heard as the bone fractured.
Simultaneously, his palm collided head-on with his; Yu Qiufeng only felt a torrential wave of internal energy surging at him with the palm, but it was already too late. His own palm seemed to be pulled towards his opponent's, that mighty tsunami-like wave of internal energy flooding his nerves and blood vessels, almost gorging him to a bursting point.
In that instant, Yu Qiufeng raised his eyes in panic and glimpsed the expression of this cheeky, flippant man--dark and aloof, entirely uncaring, like a true demon that slaughtered countless without the slightest flicker in demeanour.
With a woman's sharp scream, a biting gust of wind swept past, bringing a few needles as thin as ox hair hurtling towards Wen Kexing. Almost reflexively, he let go of Yu Qiufeng and slammed a palm towards them—from a distance away, the needles were knocked askew, but the force of his palm still did not disperse. Unable to dodge in time, the force of his palm strike hit the woman behind straight in the chest, sending her flying and crashing into the wall.
It was only at this moment that Wen Kexing could clearly make out that the person who ambushed him was none other than Liu Qianqiao, who had unclogged her acupuncture points without anyone knowing. He was first taken aback, then, like he suddenly understood something, he called, "A-Xu, come quick, I witnessed some adultery!"
Zhou Zishu didn't know what to say to him. Turning around, he booted a persistent death-seeker away, bent to pick up Liu Qianqiao, and said, clipped, "Cut the nonsense out, let's go!"
Wen Kexing made a sound of acknowledgement, and escaped with Zhou Zishu without protest.
The two of them leapt away at great speed with qinggong, and after an indeterminable distance, long after they had already lost the lowlife troublemakers on their trail, Zhou Zishu finally stopped, threw the barely-alive Liu Qianqiao under a tree, and sealed a few of her major acupuncture points.
Wen Kexing crossed his arms, chuckling, "Great, you took her away, now your reputation as an unorthodox villain is further cemented." He thought about it, then reflected smugly, "That's fine, anyway, I don't have any good reputation either. You're mine, so this counts as sticking together for better or for worse."
Zhou Zishu didn't even look at him, bending to examine Liu Qianqiao's condition. He took a small bottle of medicine out of his robes and stuffed a pill into her mouth without a second thought, regardless of whether it would work, and said, "Lao Wen, the mouth is meant for eating, not for talking crap--just a fraction of force more, and you'd have killed her on the spot."
Hearing that slightly annoyed, but inexplicably familiar address of "Lao Wen", Wen Kexing was instantly overjoyed. As for the words that followed, he automatically assumed that they were just demonstrating his tough love.
Liu Qianqiao coughed once; this light movement nearly caused her to fall apart. She glared at Zhou Zishu with angry eyes, speaking with much effort, "Why…are you pretending at kindness?"
Zhou Zishu ignored her words, squatting down to ask, "Let me ask you, where did you learn your skills of disguise from?"
Liu Qianqiao did not expect this to be the first question out of his mouth; she paused, then spat, and said gutsily despite being near-death, "What's it got to do with you?"
Hearing this, Wen Kexing said, "Miss Liu, were you changing your appearance and snatching the Lapis Armour all for Yu Qiufeng? Let me give you a word of advice, then: a woman doesn't have to be afraid of being ugly or stupid, but should be more fearful of being blind. That kind of trash, it's a disservice to you to have fallen for him. Do you know how Yu Qiufeng found us? Why Ye Baiyi would have chased a man in black into that alley? Who was it that misled you on purpose, making you think that the escaped man in black was Yu Qiufeng, so that you would strike out at Ye Baiyi? Who exposed your identity in front of everyone? He was using you as a human shield, silly."
With his words, he ripped apart the "maidenly troubles" of this woman no longer in the prime of her youth. This was more fatal than Ye Baiyi's "ugly freak" had been; had Liu Qianqiao possessed the slightest bit of energy to move, she would have crawled to her feet and bitten him dead.
Zhou Zishu said, "Shut up."
Receiving the order, Wen Kexing immediately shut his mouth tight, like he was wishing that he'd grown only a single lip.
Staring at her face, Zhou Zishu estimated Liu Qianqiao's age, and suddenly asked, "You...when you were little, did you meet an odd man who didn't have eyebrows, who was injured and starving to death? And you gave him food?"
In his shifu Qin Huaizhang's youth, he had once taken refuge in a farmhouse after being severely wounded by the enemies hunting him down. Penniless, it was all thanks to a little girl with a scarred face who had secretly brought him food that he could survive the worst of it. With nothing on him to repay her with, and feeling much pity for her upon seeing her disfigurement, Qin Huaizhang had taught her a few techniques of disguise. Yet, he had never thought that it would harm her in the future instead.
Liu Qianqiao didn't say anything, but upon hearing these words, a brief look of surprise flitted quickly across her face. Zhou Zishu understood, lowered his head to think, and drew a bottle of the wound ointment out of his robes. He set it in front of Liu Qianqiao and said, "Decide what's best for yourself, from now on."
Then he rose and left.
Elated, Wen Kexing followed after Zhou Zishu, saying, "She was plotting to do you in, yet, you were still so good to her, that's really…"
But he suddenly stopped speaking, because he saw Zhou Zishu fish another bottle of ointment out from his robes as he walked, rubbing its contents onto his own face. It wasn't obvious at first, but after a few more rubs, a different skin colour was gradually revealed.
Wen Kexing's eyes weren't even blinking, widening further as he stared--