This was quite some time ago; Zhou Zishu frowned as he tried to recall, before he said, "I made him copy three hundred times the rudimentary mantra for practicing qi that every new disciple accepted into our sect has to learn. If he couldn’t get it, he could practice at his own pace. If he still didn’t get it, he didn’t get to eat. And if he still hadn’t gotten it by then...he didn’t get to sleep either, I’d have people lock his bedroom up at midnight, and order him to stand in the snow to gain an understanding of the concepts on his own.”

Hearing this, Zhang Chengling shivered in secret. Wen Kexing paused for half a beat, then sighed, "Your shidi…truly has great fortune in surviving things.”

Zhou Zishu paused in his steps. Out of the blue, he said, “He didn’t have great fortune. He’s dead.” Zhang Chengling and Wen Kexing looked at him, but that sickly yellow face of his did not reveal the slightest hint of emotion. Zhou Zishu patted Zhang Chengling’s head not too gently, and said straightforwardly, “Learn it properly. If you want to survive for a few days more, you need to be capable.”

Then he threw Zhang Chengling to Wen Kexing's care, said, "I'm going to see an old friend. Help me look after him for a bit,” and left using qinggong without a single glance back, leaving Zhang Chengling and Wen Kexing to look at each other incredulously.

After half a beat, Wen Kexing said, with deep feeling,"Your shifu’s words are extremely true, you need to be capable--forget it, he’s not here, let’s swap brains. I’ll continue with the second half of the tale of the Red Child I was telling you the previous time.”

Zhang Chengling was a good-for-nothing; he instantly brightened up, and the two of them headed towards the nearest tavern as he listened to Wen Kexing narrate, “But what should he do with all those monsters? The Red Child thought for a very long time, tried many things, until he finally thought of an idea. He only needed a magical artefact--”

With one of them making things up as he went along, and the other an enthusiastic audience, the journey was extremely enjoyable. Just as they were about to enter a tavern, out of the blue, they heard a girl from behind them call, “Master! Master, I’ve finally found you!”