Zhang Fang was silent for a good while before finally sighing.
"Fine. For the sake of us being fellow disciples, and because I once had feelings for you, go ahead and ask."
"Had feelings for me…"
Zhou Qingmei gave a slightly mocking smile and then said,
"That night, the person I encountered was your Young Sect Leader? Do I know him?"
"You do."
Zhou Qingmei's heart skipped a beat. She gritted her teeth and asked,
"Who is he?"
Zhang Fang laughed. He looked at Zhou Qingmei for a long moment before slowly saying,
"Li Nanchen."
"Impossible!!"
Zhou Qingmei felt her head buzzing.
"How could it be him!?"
Li Nanchen was the personal and eldest disciple of Zhuji Pavilion's Pavilion Master—the future Pavilion Master of Zhuji Pavilion.
How could he possibly be the Young Sect Leader of the Black Death Sect!?
In that instant, Fang Shuwen's slightly teasing words from the Zhou Family's secret underground chamber couldn't help but surface in her mind.
"Or, what if he's just one of your own from Zhuji Pavilion?"
"That's why he was afraid you'd discovered his identity and wanted to kill you to keep you quiet."
Words she hadn't taken to heart then sounded so jarring at this moment.
It filled Zhou Qingmei with a dizzying sense of terror.
"Why is it impossible?"
Zhang Fang said coolly,
"Just because he grew up in Zhuji Pavilion? Or because he's the Eldest Brother that all the disciples of our generation look up to?"
"Hilarious, isn't it? The eldest disciple of Zhuji Pavilion's Pavilion Master is actually the Young Sect Leader of the Black Death Sect."
"It's precisely because this matter is so unbelievable that it can achieve the effect we want."
"But it's also because of this that whether you recognized him or not… you had to die!"
"…How could this be?"
Zhou Qingmei's expression crumbled. She murmured,
"No wonder I couldn't recognize him… Although Eldest Brother is of the same generation as us, it's as if there's a huge chasm between us."
"We barely see him a few times on a normal day, and he was dressed in black at night. How could I possibly have recognized him?"
"Too bad. We couldn't risk betting on your perception, so you had to die."
"But what do my family have to do with any of this?"
"For one, no one knew if you recognized him. If you knew nothing at all, that would have been fine. But what if you felt even a hint of familiarity and told Zhou Feixiong about it?"
"Then after your death in the Jianghu, how could Zhou Feixiong not go to Zhuji Pavilion to demand an explanation?"
"And if you had voiced your suspicions to him, what then?"
Zhang Fang held his sword level, sweeping his left index and middle fingers lightly across the blade.
"So, just to be safe, it was best to wipe the slate clean. That's how you avoid future trouble."
"'Avoid future trouble,' indeed!"
Zhou Qingmei said through gritted teeth,
"Since you're from the Black Death Sect, why were you staking out Da Xuan Bank?"
"Why did you lead us to Cyan Yang Manor?"
"Aren't they… your fellow sect members?"
"Hahaha."
Hearing this, Zhang Fang burst out laughing.
"So what if they are? In the end, they're just a bunch of third-rate trash."
"Besides, this whole thing is your father's fault… If he hadn't hired a guard as troublesome as Fang Shuwen for you, I wouldn't have had to cut my losses."
"I had to make Fang Shuwen think the danger to you was over."
"That there were no more Black Death Sect members in Guangning City. How else could he leave with peace of mind?"
"If he didn't leave, how could I kill you? And how could I return to Guangning City to capture Fang Lingxin?"
"So, you used Cyan Yang Manor as bait!"
Zhou Qingmei looked at the Zhang Fang before her, as if she were seeing him for the first time.
She had never imagined that this normally chatty Senior Brother Zhang was such a ruthless person.
"That's right. Didn't you notice that the trip to Cyan Yang Manor went far too smoothly?"
"It wasn't just smooth; we crushed them with overwhelming ease!"
"My Black Death Sect has been entrenched in Guangning City for many years. If that was all we had, how could we dare to plot anything major?"
"You people, immersed in upholding the righteous path of the Jianghu, how would you know… that what you saw was merely the tip of the iceberg."
Zhang Fang looked at Zhou Qingmei.
"With Fang Shuwen around, it was very difficult for me to complete the Young Sect Leader's orders."
"But, there are no unsolvable problems in this world… As long as you use your brain, you can always find a way to break the deadlock."
"See? Isn't everything much better now?"
"Alright, alright, I've said pretty much everything that needed to be said. Can you go die now?"
"One last question."
Zhou Qingmei said quickly,
"This 'major event' you mentioned, what is it exactly?"
Zhang Fang tilted his head and looked at Zhou Qingmei, his eyes blazing, as if trying to see right through her.
Suddenly, his expression changed drastically.
The next moment, without a second thought, he turned and ran!
Zhou Qingmei froze for a second. When she snapped out of it, instead of turning to leave, she bellowed,
"Stop!!"
But why would Zhang Fang listen?
Everything up to this point had been, if not normal, at least logical.
But in that last moment, the inquiry in Zhou Qingmei's eyes was too eager.
That wasn't the look of a dying person asking questions to avoid dying with regrets.
Her eyes held not a shred of fear of death, only the excitement of a mystery about to be solved.
The moment he realized this, he knew he had most likely fallen into a trap.
So he didn't hesitate for a moment and bolted.
He dodged the half-blade that came whistling past.
But it was immediately followed by an even fiercer gust of wind. This time, he couldn't dodge; he could only block!
Fortunately, his longsword was still in his hand and not sheathed. He twisted the blade, and a layer of black energy already covered its body.
DING!!!
A crisp sound rippled across the body of the sword.
It sounded beautiful… but it was deadly!
The powerful force instantly tore the flesh between his thumb and forefinger. He lost his grip on the precious sword, and it went flying with a HUM.
And the stone, which he had failed to fully block, knocked the sword from his hand before slamming viciously into his chest.
It sent him flying twenty or thirty feet into the air. When he landed, he could no longer hold back the mouthful of fresh blood and spat it out violently.
Looking up, Fang Shuwen, who had claimed he was returning to Julu City, was indeed right there.
A huge sense of powerlessness suddenly washed over him.
Zhang Fang collapsed onto the ground, grimacing as he rubbed his chest, and sighed helplessly.
"You're not supposed to cheat!"
"Look who's talking."
Fang Shuwen brought Zhou Qingmei over to Zhang Fang and said with a light chuckle,
"If Brother Zhang hadn't deceived me first, why would I have resorted to such a lowly tactic?"
"Where exactly did I slip up?"
Zhang Fang was a little curious.
Fang Shuwen looked troubled.
Zhang Fang immediately said:
"Hey, don't be like that. I just told her so much, all so she could die without any regrets."
"If you kill me now without a word, that would be too heartless."
Fang Shuwen shook his head.
"I was just thinking, with so many flaws in your plan, where should I even begin?"
Zhang Fang froze and glanced at Zhou Qingmei.
"See? I told you this guy can't speak like a civilized person…"