Out of the blue, Zhou Zishu recalled the moment she had walked into the tavern, each step and lift of her hand confident and effortless, graceful as a fairy, attracting everyone's admiring gaze in an instant. He walked towards her, eyes fixed on her; even though he knew that she was not worth sympathy, a slight trace of pity for her rose in him.

Was one's appearance really that important?

Liu Qianqiao looked at Yu Qiufeng. Her mouth opened, as if she wanted to speak, but her lips quivered twice, and she swallowed the words back down.

Ye Baiyi suddenly spoke. "Not his doing."

Yu Qiufeng chuckled, and said, "Hero Ye is still young and has lived on Changming Mountain for a long time, and thus still does not understand that people have treacherous hearts and minds--if Master Zhou claims that he has no relation to this matter at all, do you dare to strip, and let us check if there's a ghost mask on the small of your back?"

Wen Kexing instantly yelped, “What? Even if he strips, he can’t strip for you. Who do you think you are?”

Yu Qiufeng ignored him, focusing all of his attention on only Zhou Zishu, asking, “Does Master Zhou refuse because he has something on him that is too disreputable to show others?”

Too disreputable to show others? A sense of self-mockery rose in his heart. This all was too ridiculous--there was absolutely nothing on the small of his back, but he had seven nails in his chest. Yet, weren’t they like the ghost mask, something that could only stay hidden in the shadows?

Suddenly, he laughed, thinking: Why should I have to stay hidden in the shadows? Back when the previous Emperor had been on the throne, I was the one who set a domino chain of plans in motion to wipe out the Second Prince’s gang, and was the one who picked out a whole bunch of worms who had eaten holes in the rotten court. Back when the Northern brutes had invaded the Central Plains and were headed straight for the capital, I was the one who guarded the Chengwu Gate to the death, without budging a single inch. The reason why this nation of Daqing can gradually recover from the winds and storms and the thousand holes riddled into it to show a hint of liveliness, so that all of you may live and work in peace freely, even snap at each other like dogs because you have nothing better to do--all the dirty, disreputable work behind a glorious era, I managed it all single-handedly--back then, my methods were vicious, and I hurt people, but today, I too can drag this broken body and despicable soul to do good and accumulate good karma. From the beginning to the end, my conscience has been clear, so why do I have to hide in the shadows?!