Fengya Mountain, the bamboo grove, housing swarms of malicious Ghosts.

Zhou Zishu was not travelling quickly. Along the way, he was mulling over those poisoned men he saw in the Scorpion’s basement, and the rumoured Long-Tongued Ghost--evidently, the Long-Tongued Ghost had recognised Wen Kexing, but had still wanted to kill him. As expected, there was much more to this than met the eye. That Long-Tongued Ghost did not seem to be too capable; who was the person behind his actions?

Was it that Sun Ding in red purposely misdirecting them, or was it that six-fingered Hanged Ghost Xue Fang he spoke of behind this?

Right at this moment, he suddenly heard rushed footsteps coming in his direction. By now, it was very late at night, late enough that the night watchman had already gone around the streets with his gong[26]. Reflexively, Zhou Zishu ducked into a side alley, engaging his martial abilities with some effort to suppress the Three Autumn Nails of the Seven Acupunctures so that they would not act up too fiercely, and listened closely.

That person sounded like they were getting closer and closer. Though their steps were in disarray, he could tell that they were someone who knew qinggong. Yet, for some unknown reason, their breathing was extremely rough, as though...they were injured?

Before Zhou Zishu could see who it was, he heard a person draw near behind him. His back stiffened. Fingers bent into claws, he whipped around and went for the person’s throat, but was stopped halfway--Wen Kexing patted his chest, looking at him with a wronged expression, and mouthed “Murdering your dear husband!”. Zhou Zishu only rescinded his hand then, and continued looking in the direction the sound had come from.

Surprisingly, the person who ran in their direction was someone familiar. It was that Green Vixen Liu Qianqiao, who had once come to look for him about the Lapis Armour. This time, she did not disguise her features, exposing her true, horrifying appearance. Her demeanour was even more dishevelled--her hair was loose and straggly, and there were bloodstains on the corner of her mouth. Zhou Zishu frowned slightly.

He did not expect the arm reaching out from behind to detain him by looping around his waist. A hand was laid on his chest, and he heard Wen Kexing whisper next to his ear, “Don’t suppress it, lest it hurts even more when it acts up tomorrow. We’ll just wait here for a while.”

Frowning, Zhou Zishu said, “Then…”

Wen Kexing shushed him, and hugged him gently. An extraordinarily thin thread of energy flowed from his palm, combing through Zhou Zishu's meridians. However, he did not dare to use the slightest bit of strength, for fear that using a greater force would rattle his nails. Zhou Zishu paused, but did not reject it, and merely closed his eyes to rest. Regardless of who ran past them, they would have to wait until he lasted through the pain tonight.