Liu Qianqiao scrambled to raise her short sword above her head in a parry. Her sword was actually a few inches longer than Gu Xiang's dagger, but every one inch fewer of sword was, after all, accompanied by one ounce more of danger, and she did not have as many tricks as Gu Xiang did. This risky parry allowed Huang Daoren's blade to graze her fingertips, letting her feel his cold and sinister killing intent. The short sword shattered at the hilt; Liu Qianqiao hit the ground in an ungainly crash, and rolled away.

Among the two, one chased tirelessly, and the other ran for her life madly, like a scene out of a toxic relationship. As he watched Huang Daoren chase the maiden into the distance like a savage creature, Wen Kexing prodded Zhou Zishu and hinted, "That chick's in danger. Are you not going to rescue her?"

Zhou Zishu felt that this person really had nothing better to do, and replied politely without even looking at him, “This husband is afraid that you will be jealous.”

Wen Kexing was silent for a long while, before he said with a solemn expression, “A-Xu, be a little more serious. Stop taking advantage of me all the time.”

Zhou Zishu could not help himself from turning his head to glance at him as he thought with surprise, This Wen person knows of the word ‘serious’? Then he saw Wen Kexing furrowing his brow slightly, his attitude one of great propriety, and saying in complete seriousness, “I hold grudges very easily. Keep teasing me, and if I can't hold myself back when we undergo the Rite of Duke of Zhou[32] in the future because I still recall all of these instances, you're the one who has to suffer."

Zhou Zishu was silent for a long while. “You have worried unnecessarily.”

Then, without a second backward glance, he gave chase in the direction of the Green Vixen Liu Qianqiao’s tracks. In this handful of months that they had spent stowed away in Shuzhong, something else must have happened in the jianghu, he thought. Hints of the tense atmosphere that heralded a coming storm had already surfaced when they were in Dongting, but they had coincidentally left for the Puppet Manor at that point in time.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zhou Zishu scanned Wen Kexing, who was following carefreely behind him, and thought, As the Master of the Ghost Valley, he cannot have possibly not perceived the state of affairs back then--and he left with Ye Baiyi, leaving his subordinates to muck around? Is he not afraid that someone actually obtains the Lapis Armour and the key, and acquires Rong Xuan’s martial techniques, which will be disadvantageous to him?”