Yet he was thinking, trouble only stops when your master dies; if he scrams earlier, everyone can live peacefully.

Pingan smiled. “He’s very good, very good, thank you, my lord, for keeping him in your thoughts. This servant sent a letter once he had received the news, and only just received the master’s reply yesterday. He says that he’s coming this way with the shaman, and can probably arrive in about ten to fourteen days…”

Hearing this, Zhou Zishu’s calm face spasmed once. He thought, the pugilist world of the Central Plains was in enough chaos, and this troublemaker still wanted to add to it--truly a year of bad fortune it was, accumulating all sorts of natural disasters and human catastrophes. Yet, he was still courteous in speech as he said, “How could I possibly trouble Seventh Lord and the shaman?”

Pingan said, “It’s nothing, my master has been extremely free with nothing to do after taking up permanent residence at the Southern border, and this is a perfect chance for him to get some exercise. Master has said that he still promised my lord all those years ago to find him a beautiful, slender-waisted Nanjiang lady to be his wife.”

Zhou Zishu broke out in a sweat, and said hastily, “I kid, I was just kidding…”

Yet, he inexplicably recalled the previous day in the abandoned courtyard, and the serious manner in which Wen Kexing had said, “I want to live out the rest of my life with you”. It felt like the chair underneath his ass had grown nails, making him uncomfortable and feel odd all over.

Pingan exchanged a few niceties with him, before moving onto the topic proper, saying, “This servant has ordered his subordinates to be on the lookout for news about the Lapis Armour my lord has come to ask about. They’ve found some things these past few days--does my lord know that a man called Shen Zhen appeared at Dongting with a Shaolin reverend yesterday, and brought a piece of Lapis Armour with him?”

Zhou Zishu was stunned. “Shen Zhen, the head of the Shen clan in Shuzhong?”

Pingan nodded. “Yes. This person has stayed away from worldly affairs for a long time, to appear so suddenly now, he must have heard of the Zhang family tragedy, and could wait no longer.”

Zhou Zishu’s mind whirled instantaneously, and he reacted immediately, saying, “Oh yes, back then, the Lu clan of Taixing didn’t have an heir and only had those useless little disciples, who were all handed over to Taishan Sect Leader Hua Fangling. Counting the Zhang family in...could it be that the legendary five pieces of the Lapis Armour is indeed in the hands of the five major clans in the past?”