Zhou Zishu did not speak--they were all leaders, but those like Gao Chong who led a bunch of people who thought of themselves as the orthodox, or those like himself who led a group of assassins and spies, were different from the Master of the Ghost Valley. Gao Chong only needed to employ the few words “The righteous cause for all under heaven” and those people would trap themselves by operating within certain boundaries of their own accord. On the other hand, those in “Tian Chuang” basically joined to sell their lives to him, and to the Emperor. Behind that organisation was rigorous and immense sovereign power, and from its establishment till today, other than himself, no one else had dared to challenge it.

But the Ghost Valley was different, because within the Ghost Valley was a bunch of fugitives.

They were like a swarm of the wickedest venomous insects that had been sealed in a narrow, cramped container, where massacring one another was the only way to keep surviving. It was a place of a million evil souls; only when one died, could the other live. There were no morals, and no axioms; there was only the survival of the fittest, and only the one mighty and vicious enough to devour them all--that insect which became the king of poisons[17]--could come out into the daylight again.

Wen Kexing disguised himself too well; many times, even Zhou Zishu would mistake him for just an ordinary, talkative man.

To the side, Wen Kexing continued telling Zhang Chengling, “Other than the fear of being hunted down, there’s another reason that makes someone hide from others, and it is sadness. In his heart, he knows that he will not be able to lay eyes on the person he wants to see most ever again, so he might as well bury himself in this place. After a long time, he can comfort himself by saying, the only reason why he didn’t come look for me is because he has not been able to find me, and nothing more.”

He exhaled a light sigh, and continued, “If your shifu’s no longer around in the future, who knows, I might want to find a place like this to hide away in. Otherwise, if I go out and see beautiful people milling about the streets, and yet can never find that one beauty who's the best fit for what my heart desires, won't I be very sad?”

Zhou Zishu teased, “I thought you said you intended to live and die with me.”

Wen Kexing chuckled as well. “I said so, but you don’t believe it.”

To the side, Zhang Chengling chimed in, “Just like...just like Yu Boya destroying his qin[18]?”