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 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?"
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?"
Smilingly, Wen Kexing pointed to the scene of violence and gore that was playing out not too far away from them, and said in a low voice, "If you want to know so badly, why not rescue her, and ask her properly?"
Zhou Zishu sensed that he was not harbouring any good intentions, and reflexively asked, "Why don't you rescue her?"
Wen Kexing said, "I can't rescue her. Such an elegant, charismatic, charming man like me can never interfere to rescue a woman. Otherwise, if she falls for me in the future, and I don't like women, won't I have to let her down? This sort of business gives bad karma, it's something that one should never…"
This person did not discern between scenarios that were appropriate to be batty in, Zhou Zishu thought. Finding his manner unpleasant to the eye, he lifted a button off his collar, and loaded it in his palm. Yet, just as he was about to flick it out, and before he could make any movement, Zhou Zishu's gaze coalesced abruptly. He darted to the side, yanking Wen Kexing along with him--someone was coming!
The two of them had just gotten out of the way when they heard a cold humph come from the woods. Zhou Zishu's ear twitched unconsciously. Finding it interesting, Wen Kexing could not help himself from reaching out to play with it. Zhou Zishu caught his wrist, and gave him a warning glance along with it.
Thereafter, two figures that could be recognised even in pitch blackness appeared--they were none other than those two old folks, Peach Red and Willow Green. The one who had humphed was Peach Red Grandma. Glaring at Huang Daoren with a spiteful expression, she raged, "Huang, are you planning to claim it for yourself?"
He did not know if it was because he had hung around Wen Kexing for too long, but these words planted a not-too-decent thought in Zhou Zishu's mind. Subconsciously, he cast a sideway glance at Wen Kexing, only to see him regard these four people with a strange expression. As though he was sighing with feeling, Wen Kexing moved his lips slightly, sending his words straight into Zhou Zishu's ear: "Such clandestine dalliances among a great number of participants with unusual predilections really makes one ashamed that his own knowledge of what the world has to offer is lacking…"
Zhou Zishu pinched his wrist, and Wen Kexing shut his mouth obediently. As they listened attentively to the conversation happening over on the other side, they saw Huang Daoren grin falsely at these two old folks, then, abruptly raise his voice and said loudly, "How would I dare to trouble you two? A bitch like this, I can easily capture on my own."
Willow Green Grandpa looked coldly at him, and said, "Do not play tricks on us."
Huang Daoren did not speak. He retreated half a step to the side, as though to avoid the insinuation, but the sabre in his hand did not return to its sheath. Instead, it hung from his hand guardedly, as if demonstrating what was meant by 'affable in appearances, but hostile at heart'.
Peach Red Grandma eyed him guardedly, regarded Liu Qianqiao like a venomous snake, and said, "Young lass, you best answer whatever Granny asks you. It'll save Granny effort, and save you from physical torment."
The chill of early spring was still biting, but Liu Qianqiao was soaked all over in cold sweat as though she had been hauled from the water. She had not managed to stop the bleeding of her severed arm in time; her face was extremely pale, and she was quaking from pain all over like a leaf in strong wind. Still, she looked at these three people stubbornly, gritting her teeth to try and stop the quiver to her voice as she said, "If...if you want to kill me, kill me. Why are you talking so much nonsense?!"
If a person like Liu Qianqiao had uttered this, it was most likely that she did not know anything--to her, how could a mere possession be more important than her life?
Yet, those three crude knaves could not grasp this. Peach Red Grandma chuckled coldly. "You're turning down a polite offer for punishment!" Her hand shot out, and a split second later, Liu Qianqiao emitted a short scream--Peach Red Grandma had severed her other arm too.
Without any support, Liu Qianqiao collapsed onto the ground, her whole body spasming. She jerked upwards repeatedly, panting heavily with her mouth wide open like a dying fish, writhing on the ground as though she was trying to flip herself over to sit up.
Liu Qianqiao's eyes were unfocused, but still she murmured, "If you want to kill me…then kill me…"
Huang Daoren smiled, and drawled, "Peach Red-dajie, if she dies just like this, that'll ruin things. She has taken a blow from me, and is already at the end of her life. Leave a little mercy when you lay your knife on her...anyway, are there not plenty of ways to make a woman talk?"
He was lecherous in appearance, and looked even moreso once he smiled. Wen Kexing sighed, suddenly morose at all the changes that time eventually brought to the world. "The younger generations outshine the previous ones. I feel that he resembles a supreme demon of the jianghu even more than I do."
Zhou Zishu finally launched the button in his hand. He did not hold back; the button struck the wrist of the hand which Huang Daoren was using to hold his sabre, and tore a hole through it. Huang Daoren shrieked like a pig being slaughtered.
Originally, Zhou Zishu was unwilling to interfere in affairs that were not his own. Liu Qianqiao was not a good person either; when he had let her off the previous time, it had already been on behalf of her skills of disguise, which meant that she could have had some affiliation with the previous lord of the Four Seasons Manor. This time, however, he suddenly felt that such a woman who had spent her whole life--up till her moment of death--foolishly waiting for a scumbag should die untouched, if she had to die. There was no need to suffer such humiliation from scoundrels like Huang Daoren.
Until now, Huang Daoren and the other two had never seen Zhou Zishu's actual face. Upon his sudden emergence, the three of them froze for a moment. Willow Green Grandpa stared at him, and asked, "Who are you?"
Zhou Zishu lifted the corner of his lips in a smile, but did not reply. All of a sudden, he glided over as swiftly as a storm, and picked up Liu Qianqiao's short sword. There was a blur before Huang Daoren, and then that man was already right in front of him. As he jerked back out of reflex, he felt an alarming chill at the front of his throat. In disbelief, Huang Daoren lowered his head and glanced down--his throat had been slit with the strokes of a 'ten'!
My throat has split--this was Huang Daoren's last thought, after which blood from his throat spurted a good few feet. His whole body convulsed once, then toppled with a crash, and he became a dead Daoren.
The tip of his shoe touched the ground lightly, and Zhou Zishu half-spun around, the short sword in his hand still dripping blood. His long hair was carelessly held up with a strip of cloth--at this moment, a few strands of his long hair hung loose, and draped by his cheek. In the light of the dawn, an extremely pale and extremely handsome face looked at Peach Red Grandma and Willow Green Grandpa with the trace of a smile.
Peach Red Grandma and Willow Green Grandpa instinctively took a step backwards.
As though there was no strength in his legs, Zhou Zishu slowly walked over to them. The blood sluiced down the point of the short sword onto his hand, then through the gaps between his fingers, to drip a trail onto the ground.
The aura emanating from this young man at that moment was overbearing; the pressure from him nearly smothered Peach Red and Willow Green. With an enraged roar, Peach Red Grandma raised her cane and swung it at Zhou Zishu's head. In the blink of an eye, Zhou Zishu was no longer where he had been. Sensing sudden danger, Peach Red Grandma scrounged her energy together, and rolled forward. At that same moment, she felt a chill down her back. A great force struck her. Her vision went black, and she spewed a mouthful of blood--she thought that her own intestines might have been ruptured by the impact.
Willow Green Grandpa's eyes were wide. He looked at Peach Red Grandma who had been sent flying, possibly dead, and looked at the young man who was turning towards him. Without further hesitation, he abandoned his old wife and fled alone.
Zhou Zishu did not give chase. He dropped his gaze, set down the short sword, and knelt next to Liu Qianqiao. He reached out, intending to seal the acupoints near her continuously-bleeding wound, but Liu Qianqiao raised her head to look at him and shook her head with the slightest tilt--she was going to die, she knew.
Wen Kexing walked out of their hiding place, and stood behind Zhou Zishu silently.
Zhou Zishu asked softly, "The Lapis Armour is actually with Yu Qiufeng, but he ran, and asked you to distract them, didn't he?"
Liu Qianqiao glanced at him, but did not speak.
Zhou Zishu sighed. "I do not have any interest in the Lapis Armour. You're about to die, what's so difficult about nodding your head once?"
Wen Kexing laughed mockingly, and said from behind him, "Miss Liu, I told you early on that Yu Qiufeng isn't anything good."
Liu Qianqiao opened her mouth. Her voice was extremely weak; Zhou Zishu had to turn his ear to her slightly. He heard her murmur, "The willow is verdant in the serene surface of the lake; the flower keeps the distant moon company. Year after year, the same, same scene…"
Then the last spark of light in her eyes suddenly dissipated; her head lolled, and there was no life left in her. Without her permission, her mouth smiled, gentling her scary mien. Because of this flawed face, she had squirrelled her true appearance away for a lifetime. Yet, she was destined to come into this world bare-faced, and leave bare-faced.
At the very end, she did not manage to complete that half of the "Song of the Raw Hawthorne".
Zhou Zishu sighed, and reached out a hand to close her eyes gently.
The two men heard a burst of cackling, coarsened with age, come from behind them. That Peach Red Grandma had dodged fast--even though she was severely injured by the force of Zhou Zishu's palm strike, she was not dead. As she regurgitated blood, she pointed at Liu Qianqiao and laughed, "A husband and his wife are…are merely birds in the same forest. When disaster strikes, they fly their own separate ways…much less that her, her relationship with Yu was not even socially legitimate, haha…throughout history, women have always been fools for love, while men have always been shallow of heart. She… could not understand even this, evidently, she did not die an unfair death, hers was no unfair death!"
Zhou Zishu glanced back at her, but did not bother with her. He simply rose and strode back in the direction they had come from.
Wen Kexing followed behind him, and after they had covered some distance, he suddenly asked, "Your gongfu seems to be of a higher skill level now than it was when I first met you…why is this so?"
Zhou Zishu's footsteps halted. When he looked back, there was a rare solemnity to Wen Kexing's expression.
Zhou Zishu smiled, pointed at his own chest and said, "When I first met you, it was sealing half of my internal energy."
"What about now?"
"Now, about four-fifths of it as it was at my peak has returned."
Yet, Wen Kexing did not seem exceptionally happy to hear this, but merely fixed his gaze on him silently. Zhou Zishu turned around and continued walking ahead, remarking flippantly, "When I die, all the martial prowess I had at my peak will have returned."