Zhang Chengling sighed quietly in his heart, and suddenly recalled that his dream all along had not been to become some peerless master. If it had not been for the sudden tragedy of the Zhang family, he, in truth, had only wanted to open a dessert shop in the future, earn enough to feed his family, perform his filial duties, and busy himself with harmoniously welcoming and sending people off each day.

He had never dared to speak of this dream. Now, he was terrified of even thinking of it alone.

At dawn of the second day, after Ye Baiyi had eaten eight steamers of buns and downed two enormous bowls of congee without pause, and just as Zhou Zishu and the other two were preparing to move to another table, he finally announced that he was bringing them into the mountains today--he had thought of a way to break the formation surrounding the Puppet Manor.

Chapter 46: Misfortune

Trailing behind Ye Baiyi, the few of them circled around within the mountain range, wandering, until they ventured into a patch of woods. Upon entering the woods, Zhou Zishu’s whole body tensed inexplicably--he could not put his finger on what hidden treachery was present in this forest, but he instinctively sensed a hint of danger.

Wen Kexing, who had been annoyingly loud this whole journey, shut his mouth at this moment as well. Even Ye Baiyi’s expression grew serious; he stopped every now and then, extremely cautious.

Zhang Chengling was the only one who was still unaware of what was going on. He was celebrating internally, because it looked like he could take a day off today. One of his shifu’s hands was pulling at his arm--those fingers were long and slender but strong, and Zhang Chengling could almost feel the heat of his palm through the thick cotton of his sleeve. It provided a great sense of security, and Zhang Chengling obediently let himself be led, quietly overjoyed.

Ye Baiyi kept muttering something, and had to stop occasionally to write some calculations on the ground with a small branch. At first, Wen Kexing, very interested in what he was doing, stood beside him and watched for a while, but soon felt like his brain was turning into mush. Dizzied by his own incomprehension, he silently retreated to one side to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhou Zishu, and asked him a low voice, “Aren’t you going to look at what he’s doing?”

Knowing his own shortcomings well, Zhou Zishu replied, “What for? I won’t understand it anyway.”

Still, he frowned lightly, and too lowered his voice to ask Wen Kexing, “Rationally speaking...among the people I sent here, there were also experts on trap mechanisms and the art of the vanishing door. Why was not a single one of them able to find that Puppet Manor?”

Wen Kexing casually asked, “Didn’t you say that someone drew a map?”