Zhou Qingmei gripped her sword hilt, and it took her a long moment to process what had just happened.
Just as the old crone was unleashing the Black Death Demon Technique to take their lives, Fang Shuwen had punched her.
The whole process was that simple… so simple it was almost a farce.
The Black Death True Qi rising around the old crone's body was like melting snow under a blazing sun before Fang Shuwen's fist, offering not a shred of resistance.
So much so that the moment she leaped up, she fell right back down.
However, she did not look peaceful.
A large amount of blood gushed from her chest. Fang Shuwen's punch had directly shattered her heart and punched clean through her body.
Her face still held the ferocious expression of her murderous intent, as well as the disbelief from being run through by that punch.
This complex expression was especially terrifying as the rain washed over it.
But even Zhou Qingmei found it somewhat hard to believe.
"She's dead?
"She died just like that?"
She looked at the old crone in the grave, then at Fang Shuwen beside her, feeling a little dazed.
Because Fang Shuwen had saved her last night, Zhou Qingmei knew how skilled the man in the black robe was.
Yet Fang Shuwen had gravely wounded him, leaving him on the brink of death, with just a single saber.
So, Zhou Qingmei had already tried to rate Fang Shuwen as highly as possible.
But now, it seemed he was completely unfathomable… far beyond anything she could have imagined.
'Thinking back, I must have been hit by the Black Death Demon Technique last night. After all, the palm strike felt overbearing at first, but its effects flared up later, making life a living hell. Yet, after a whole night, I'm completely unharmed. At the time, I was too worried about the Zhou Family to think about it in detail. Now that I do, if Fang Shuwen hadn't been there, even if I hadn't died at the hands of that man in black, my fate would have been utterly miserable.'
"You think she died too easily?
"Next time we face an opponent, should we torture them a little before killing them?
"I didn't realize you had such a vicious streak."
As Fang Shuwen spoke, he jumped into the pit, looked at the corpse, and called out,
"Young Miss, lend me your Deer Hide Gloves for a moment."
Zhou Qingmei froze.
"What are you doing?"
As she spoke, she took out the Deer Hide Gloves and tossed them to Fang Shuwen.
After putting them on, Fang Shuwen grinned.
"This old witch didn't seem simple. She's probably different from that middle-aged man last night.
"She might have been carrying some silver on her when she came out to kill…
"Now that she's dead, how can we not search her thoroughly? Who knows, we might just strike it rich."
Zhou Qingmei was, after all, from one of the Renowned and Righteous Sects. Zhuji Pavilion was already wealthy, and her family was fabulously rich. Hearing Fang Shuwen say this truly took her by surprise.
But for some reason, not only did she feel no disgust at the act of looting a corpse, she actually jumped down with some excitement.
"Let's look together."
"Be careful. This one doesn't look like she follows the righteous path. What if she has poison hidden on her?
"I'll search. You just keep an eye out."
The two came to an instant agreement and began rummaging through the old crone's belongings.
Fang Shuwen was very thorough, even pulling off her boots to see if anything was hidden inside. With Zhou Qingmei at his side checking for anything he might have missed, their efforts indeed yielded some results.
First was a copy of the Black Death Demon Technique.
It was hard to say what her reasoning was, but despite having already achieved an extremely high level of mastery in this technique, the old crone still carried the manual with her.
Besides that, there were several silver notes.
However, they were issued by a place called Da Xuan Bank, so they clearly couldn't be exchanged for silver anywhere else. The amount was not small—over five hundred taels.
After that was some loose silver and a letter that had already been opened.
The old crone's body was soaked, but these items had somehow avoided the ravages of the rain and were perfectly preserved.
In fact, it was only after they fell into Fang Shuwen's hands that they started to get wet from the rain.
After gathering these items, Fang Shuwen thought for a moment and tapped a finger on the old crone's head.
Only then did he jump out of the pit with Zhou Qingmei, throw all the stones the old crone had dug out back into the pit, and return to the tree hollow from before.
After that ordeal, neither of them felt sleepy.
First, they channeled their Inner Strength to dry their clothes, then dried the silver notes, the envelope, and the other items.
Only then did they lay everything out between them, take out a flint, and fix it to the inner wall of the hollow for light.
Zhou Qingmei glanced at the Black Death Demon Technique, a look of disgust filling her eyes.
"A Demon Technique like this must not be allowed to exist in the world. It's better to destroy it."
"Hold on, not so fast. Let me take a look first."
"You want to practice it?"
Zhou Qingmei looked at Fang Shuwen in disbelief.
Fang Shuwen shook his head.
"I would never touch an Inner Strength technique that's cultivated with human blood. I just want to see if it contains any Outer Strength moves."
Although his Four Seas Dragon Fist and Plum Blossom Scattering Hand had not yet reached perfection, the potential of these two Martial Arts was limited.
He'd have to wait for the system to reward him with a new Martial Arts technique at the end of this mission. And this mission looked like it would be quite troublesome; who knew when it would be over?
In the meantime, it was best to find a way to add some new moves to his arsenal.
Zhou Qingmei was a little surprised to hear this.
"Your Martial Arts are so profound, yet you need to look for Outer Strength moves in this Demon Technique?"
"Martial Arts profound?"
Fang Shuwen's hand paused as he flipped through the book, and he glanced at her.
"My Inner Strength is profound. As for Outer Strength… you should know of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall's Four Seas Dragon Fist. What do you think of it?"
Zhou Qingmei didn't hesitate for a second.
"It's a Lower-grade Martial Art."
"That's what I use. I am a disciple of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall."
Fang Shuwen said softly,
"My Inner Strength is due to a separate fortuitous encounter. For Fist Techniques, I only know the Four Seas Dragon Fist and the Plum Blossom Scattering Hand."
There was no need to hide such things. As long as Zhou Qingmei survived this, she could easily find out everything about him by asking Half City Zhou and the others.
"…"
Zhou Qingmei, on the other hand, was dumbfounded.
"You're actually a disciple of the Four Seas Martial Arts Hall? Then all that Inner Strength… never mind, never mind, I won't ask."
She instinctively wanted to get to the bottom of it, but then she remembered they had known each other for less than two days.
Prying into his secrets like this was really overstepping her bounds.
But after a moment's pause, she moved closer to Fang Shuwen.
"Fine, you can look for Outer Strength moves in this Black Death Demon Technique. As long as you don't touch the Inner Strength part, anything goes.
"But, from the sound of it, your experience with Martial Arts is rather shallow. I should still keep an eye on you, to make sure you don't go astray.
"You've helped me so much, saving my life twice. I don't want the next time I see you to be when you've become a great Demon that everyone in the Jianghu wants to hunt down."
"…Fine. Then let's look together."
In the tree hollow, the two sat side by side, studying the infamous Demon Technique of the Jianghu together by the faint light of the flint.