Based on Zhou Zishu’s observations, there was some unmentionable affair between Liu Qianqiao and that beautiful middle-aged man who dearly loved to use a fan, Yu Qiufeng. Was Huang Daoren not Yu Qiufeng’s lackey? Why let him loose to hunt and kill Liu Qianqiao? What benefit would Liu Qianqiao’s death bring him...or had internal strife occurred among Yu Qiufeng and Huang Daoren’s crew?

Zhou Zishu’s gaze flashed as he recalled the two pieces of Lapis Armour lost to burglary at the Gao Family Manor--when Shen Zhen had died, it would not have been easy for the Ghosts to infiltrate Dongting discreetly, surrounded by numerous experts as it had been. It was highly likely that a mole on the inside had stolen the Lapis Armour in the name of the Ghost Valley. In connection, he recalled Yu Tianjie, Yu Qiufeng’s only son who had died outside of the Zhao Family Manor; there had been a piece of Lapis Armour on the Long-Tongued Ghost, who had killed Yu Tianjie...

Did even thievery warrant a hereditary legacy from father to son? Zhou Zishu mused.

Ruminating on this matter, his thoughts wandered further and further away, until a sudden tragic shout pulled his thoughts back to the present. Zhou Zishu raised his head in time to see Huang Daoren sever one of Liu Qianqiao’s arms. Blood spurted into the distance; she stumbled four, five steps backwards, before she could not hold out any longer and fell to the ground with a ‘thud’.

Merrily, Huang Daoren hefted his sabre and closed in on her with slow steps as he said, “Why, still refusing to hand it over?”

It? What ‘it’? Zhou Zishu frowned, wondering if Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng’s little secret affair had been discovered. Could Huang Daoren have thought that the Lapis Armour which the adulterer stole was in the adultress’ hands?

Concealed in the shadows, he observed Huang Daoren. This man’s head grew in the shape of a potato, and must be functioning like one, he opined--even if Yu Qiufeng really could not have kept anything hidden any longer and had been exposed, why would he hand such an important thing over to this woman?

If the premises that he had deduced were true, it was clear that once Yu Qiufeng, that slimy man, had sensed that the situation was going awry, he had pushed this silly wench out as a scapegoat. Yet, this Liu Qianqiao just had to be so deeply sentimental still, and remained tight-lipped.

At this moment, Wen Kexing poked him again, and Zhou Zishu’s train of thought was interrupted again. Shooting him an annoyed glance, Zhou Zishu asked in an almost imperceptible murmur, “What is it this time?”