Taking advantage of situations was Zhou Zishu’s strongest point; his skills worked on everyone except for Wen Kexing. Only a few sentences into the conversation and Cao Weining already felt like they were the closest of comrades as he started telling the other everything possible. “My Uncle-Master and I are attending the gathering in Dong Ting, but a few days ago something awful happened back at the Zhao’s Holdings. My Uncle and Sir Zhao knew each other way back, so he told me to go to Dong Ting first to apologize to Sir Gao Chong for being late…”

“Dong Ting’s gathering?” Zhou Zishu was surprised.

“Yes.” Cao Weining explained, “Has Brother Zhou heard about the Zhang family tragedy? Not only that, I heard a few days ago the Patriarch of Tai Shan died mysteriously in his own room along with all of his disciples in one single night, in a fashion not unlike the Zhangs. The lucky Zhang Young Master who survived is now with the Zhaos and under Sir Zhao’s protection; he confirmed that the Ghosts of Qingzhu Ridge were behind this. This gathering at Dong Ting is summoned by Sir Gao using his Realm’s Command, aiming to gather all the heroes in the world to extinguish the Ghost Valley.”

On instinct, Zhou Zishu glanced at Wen Kexing—only to find the man deeply invested in the conversation. He even asked, “Is this real?”

“Absolutely.” Cao Weining replied. “Uncle and I are under my Master’s order to attend.”

Sure enough, this youngling was someone experiencing real life for the first time; he answered questions he wasn’t even asked.

Wen Kexing said, “Isn’t gathering merits your goal, Brother Zhou? How about accompanying this young friend; battling evils is surely one of the biggest virtues out there.”

Zhou Zishu took a sip of wine with his eyes downcast, unsure about Wen Kexing’s motives. Cao Weining clapped his hands, “Indeed it is, that was very well-said of you, Brother Wen. I think you two are very righteous and honorable and that we can be great friends, so why don’t you come with me to Dong Ting?”

Hah, this foolish kid.

Wen Kexing smiled, “That’d be our honor.”

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Footnotes.

1 A popular symbol for prosperity and wealth.

2 状元 (zhuàngyuan) is the title for the person who scored first place during the examination to become court officials.

3 An end-blown flute.

4 An unit of currency, one liang equals 50 grams.

5 The most highly-regarded disciple under a Master.

Translator’s Notes. To everyone requesting/wanting to translate this to other languages: Go ahead, there’s no need to ask! As long as you leave a credit somewhere, it’ll be enough for me (and I still highly recommend that you translate from the original source instead of from my translation.)

Someone also asked me to make a character list; I promise I’ll get to it as soon as I can!

Chapter 16. Spirit Fox