He acted on instinct and used internal strength to throw her off. When he pulled himself together, the cherry blossom tree and the person disappeared—in front of him now was only the dark cave with the beast’s corpse on the ground and the pile of bones that they had examined moments ago.

The girl that he threw off let out an inhuman scream. When he looked clearly, she was not at all a human girl, but actually the underwater monster!

The little monster screamed with its mouth open, staring at his bleeding wound hungrily. It was eager to pounce again, but suddenly a hand stuck out and grabbed its neck. The creature didn’t even get to struggle before its neck was snapped and it died immediately.

Wen Kexing lips curled in amusement, discarding the body without a thought. He spoke as if nothing happened, “Those underwater things still dare go on land even when they’re afraid of the beast. Seems like there aren’t just us two down here.”

All strength seemed to have left Zhou Zishu, he forced out a laugh, “Did we just go in circles and back to the original spot then?”

Wen Kexing sized him up. “Can you walk? I can carry you… bridal style is completely alright too, as long as you let me see your real face.”

Zhou Zishu smiled drily, “Thank you, but there’s no need.”

He covered the shoulder wound, lifted his spirits and continued walking along the “Yellow Spring”. Then he asked like he just remembered something, “Back then I saw a tree with flowers growing from the beast’s corpse, with prince’s feathers2 jumping and singing. What did you see?”

Wen Kexing replied from behind him, “I saw an owl—I told you before that owls laughing will only bring bad luck, and I was right wasn’t I—then I also a person carrying a bowl with red water, and the owl knocked it over…”

Zhou Zishu kept his mouth shut. He told a lie, it was fair that his companion told a lie in return.

He took the lead and didn’t look back, so he didn’t see Wen Kexing’s expression at that moment—the smile on the man’s face seemed to freeze there for a long time and his eyes were blank. It was unclear that he was looking down at the ground or at something very far away. Seeing that Zhou Zishu had no patience for his owl story, he swallowed it down and followed the other.

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Footnotes.

1 A martial art move from the Cherry Blossom Pole (梅花樁) kungfu style.

2 A plant of the Polygonaceae family, also called the “dog’s tail” plant in China due to the shape of the flowers.

Chapter 13. Exposed

Zhou Zishu abruptly stopped walking and sized up the four cave entrances with a frown. “There’s water and wind in here, the chances for someone to poison us are low,” He said.