Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing glanced at each other. In that instant, they shared the same thought, their separate minds as one--Why isn’t Ye Baiyi here?

The Scorpion narrowed his eyes, opened his mouth and bit down. Unbelievably, that needle was like a noodle strand--he chewed it into segments, then swallowed the needle just like that. Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing looked at each other. Neither of them had thought that this head Scorpion would have teeth of iron.

Smiling, the Scorpion asked, “Will the two gentlemen gamble, or undress?”

Wen Kexing looked like he very much wanted to choose the latter. Zhou Zishu abruptly picked up a wine cup from the table, uncorked his own flask, and filled the cup to the brim. Reaching out to pinch two needles, he ground his fingertips together once, and those two thin needles turned into a heap of powder, dissolving into the wine in the blink of an eye. He raised his head and glanced at the Scorpion. Contrary to expectation, the Scorpion was very courteous, gesturing for him to go first. Zhou Zishu finished the wine in his cup with a frown, and flashed the empty bottom of it at him. Observing Zhou Zishu’s countenance as he stood by, Wen Kexing felt that the wine probably did not taste any better than if it had a walnut in it.

The Scorpion smiled as he said, “This brother here, do not blame me for not reminding you--drinking it with wine as you are doing occupies more space in your stomach than eating it dry as I am doing. Can it be that you two gentlemen want to take me, a single person, on together?”

Wen Kexing immediately waved his hands and said, “No, no, no, I don’t have the refined interest or the teeth for this. You two go ahead, go ahead.”

Suddenly, Zhou Zishu smiled, and said, “I’ve eaten two needles, and you’ve eaten one. I think that’s enough to score victory over you.”

Immediately executing an underhanded tactic, he slammed his palm on the table, and those slim needles as thin as ox-hairs scattered through the air, their cold light glinting in all directions. The Scorpion sensed a force hurtling at him, gave a low shout out of reflex, and ducked it. When he looked back again, he saw that all the ox-hair needles on the table had barely missed him as they hurtled past, and were embedded into the wall. Astonishingly, they were stuck inches deep; if he wanted to retrieve them, he could not do so.

Wen Kexing could not help but give a shout of approval, inwardly musing that this move of A-Xu's was indeed incomparably shameless, much like his own way of doing things. Truly, it was like that saying: when someone sang, the other followed.[24]

The Scorpion frowned, then his brow slowly relaxed once more. Still placid, he asked, "May I ask this brother for his surname?"