Jun Shu stumbled out of the mountain cave. He had concealed all his aura and ran with extreme difficulty.

Although Shen Zhiming knew most of his life-saving methods, he ultimately overlooked his mother’s techniques. His mother came from a puppet master family and had left him a set of life-saving treasures. When he had pretended to be dead and was thrown out earlier, he had hidden himself at a high place, leaving his mother’s puppet in his original position.

This puppet had been hidden inside his body using his mother’s special methods and would only be used at critical moments. He had been waiting for the day to use this puppet, but he never imagined that day would be given to him by Shen Zhiming.

Using the aura-concealing treasure his mother had left in his consciousness sea, he hid his tracks and fled forward frantically. Sensing the pursuing forces’ aura behind him, he fled in panic all along the way without choosing his path. He escaped continuously for several days. When he finally came to his senses, he realized he had almost entered Ning clan territory. The Ning family and Jun family couldn’t be considered hereditary allies, but compared to Ghost City, which was now essentially masterless, Shen Zhiming wouldn’t dare act recklessly on Ning clan territory. Moreover, if the news that he harbored a Demonic Seed was known, the Ning clan would definitely do their utmost to execute him.

After thinking for a moment, Jun Shu decided he must enter Ning clan territory as quickly as possible. But before him stood a mountain cliff. Now with a mortal body, if he tried to go around this mountain cliff, it would take at least several days. And Shen Zhiming’s people would definitely think of him going to the side and pursue him—he probably couldn’t get past the cliff that way.

The fastest and most reliable way to reach Ning clan territory now was to climb over this mountain cliff.

Jun Shu raised his head and looked upward with his aged eyes. A cultivator’s willpower told him he could do it.

Without a word, he walked to the cliff’s edge and began climbing up.

Jun Shu climbed for a day and a night. At this time, Qin Wanwan’s group also arrived at Beauty Cliff.

As soon as Jian Xingzhi saw they had reached their destination, he called out to Cuilu: “Cuilu,” he negotiated with her, “Beicheng and I have some matters to attend to. Let’s rest here for the night, shall we?”

Hearing this, Cuilu hesitated for a moment and looked toward Qin Wanwan in the carriage. Qin Wanwan lifted the curtain and moved her eyebrows at her, casting a flirtatious glance to signal her to be accommodating.

Recently, Qin Wanwan had been diligently studying the “Jian-style flirtatious glance.” She had mastered this movement to perfection. She discovered this action was truly efficient—with just one move of her eyebrows, Cuilu’s facial expression couldn’t hold.

Cuilu wanted to laugh but felt it would lose her dignity. She could only mask her impropriety with anger and didn’t entangle further with her: “Set up camp and rest!”

After Cuilu set up camp, Jian Xingzhi called to Qin Wanwan. After informing Cuilu of their whereabouts, he brought Xie Gutang and Nanfeng, along with the changed-clothes Qin Wanwan, up the mountain together.

They had planned this evening for a long time.

Qin Wanwan wore a white wide-sleeved long dress with gorgeous peonies embroidered on the bodice, looking ethereal and fairy-like, as if the Moon Palace fairy had descended to the mortal world. But she wore a fluffy goose-down hair ornament on her head, bringing a touch of down-to-earth cuteness to her aloof demeanor. Combined with her bright features, she was stunning—even perfect.

Jian Xingzhi carried two large palm-leaf fans, while Xie Gutang and Nanfeng carried several standing bronze mirrors. Jian Xingzhi discussed with Qin Wanwan: “In a bit, they’ll use spiritual power to brighten these bronze mirrors to light you, and I’ll fan the wind, right?”

“Exactly.”

Qin Wanwan nodded: “You need to make my hair fly up with the moonlight shining on me at the center of the light. That’s what creates atmosphere.”

Jian Xingzhi nodded with seeming understanding and turned to look at Xie Gutang and Nanfeng behind him: “Do you understand?”

The two nodded blankly. Jian Xingzhi was relieved—he wasn’t alone.

Tang Sanzang…

Oh no, Qin Wanwan brought the three people together to the open space at the cliff top. She had Xie Gutang and Nanfeng arrange the bronze mirrors’ positions, had Nanfeng infuse spiritual power, and adjusted the spiritual power levels to create the appropriate lighting atmosphere.

She also had Xie Gutang play the flute and confirmed the volume.

Finally, she turned to look at Jian Xingzhi: “Let’s try it. Fan wind toward my front. In a bit, that group of people will definitely be assassins chasing the target from your direction below, running up the mountain. You stand in the tree so they won’t see you.”

“Why would they run from the bottom of the mountain up?” Nanfeng asked curiously.

Qin Wanwan was speechless: “We’re already at the highest point. Can they still run from the mountain top down?”

“Then why only from the front and not from behind?” Xie Gutang couldn’t understand.

Qin Wanwan glanced backward to see only clouds and mist. She sighed: “Daojun Xie, that’s a cliff. If he’s being pursued, how would he run up from the cliff?”

Everyone thought this made sense. Which pursuit wasn’t a huge group of people?

Surely the assassins and their target wouldn’t climb the cliff together, with you pulling me and me kicking you, right?

Everyone understood Qin Wanwan’s reasoning. With everything ready, Qin Wanwan stood at the center of the light and gave Xie Gutang a look. Xie Gutang began playing the flute.

When the flute music sounded, Qin Wanwan raised her hand and made the first movement.

When a beautiful woman dances, the most important thing isn’t how well she dances—it’s all about the atmosphere.

Xie Gutang’s flute music was clear and distant. His gaze unconsciously fell on the person in the center. Under the moon, in white clothes, wide sleeves half-concealing a shy flower, a pair of bright eyes like water lifted up. Between tender gazes, she suddenly squinted and moved her eyebrows.

Xie Gutang smiled warmly.

A notification of points +10 suddenly popped up in Jian Xingzhi’s mind.

Jian Xingzhi was shocked and instantly looked toward Xie Gutang in the distance. He saw that the red favorability rating of 45 above his head had actually become 46!

He felt inexplicably flustered inside and absentmindedly fanned his fan.

Meanwhile, Jun Shu, who was climbing the mountain, heard flute music from above and felt irritated.

He didn’t expect there would actually be people on the mountain, but this didn’t matter anymore. He had already climbed this far—he had no way back!

He gritted his teeth and climbed up bit by bit.

On the mountain, Qin Wanwan spun around in the music. Noticing Jian Xingzhi being perfunctory, she reminded him: “The wind is too weak!”

Jian Xingzhi worked harder at waving the two palm-leaf fans. The wind got a bit stronger, but Qin Wanwan still felt it was too weak to give her that feeling of ethereal fairy aura surrounding her. She continued shouting loudly: “Put more effort into it!”

Jian Xingzhi waved even harder. Actually, he could fan harder, but he was afraid of accidentally blowing Qin Wanwan away, so he carefully controlled it.

Unexpectedly, this concern from Master was completely unappreciated by the disciple. After not getting suitable wind for a long time, Qin Wanwan couldn’t help but stop and irritably spoke: “Master, didn’t you eat? Can you add some spiritual power and give me that feeling of ‘I wish to ride the wind and return, floating like an immortal’? Can you do it or not? If you can’t, let Daojun Xie do it.”

“Who says I can’t?”

A man cannot accept being told he can’t do it.

Jian Xingzhi immediately spoke: “You dance. I’ll make you ride the wind and return right away.”

Hearing this promise, Qin Wanwan finally began dancing again. Jian Xingzhi infused spiritual power into the palm-leaf fan and raised his hand to wave it fiercely.

Wild wind swept over. Qin Wanwan felt like she was directly facing a hurricane. Forget about sleeves flying—if she hadn’t instantly used spiritual power to resist, her entire person would have been blown away.

At that very moment, Jun Shu struggled to climb up to the mountaintop. Just as the wild wind struck, Jun Shu lost his balance, screamed, and fell down.

“What was that sound?”

Qin Wanwan instinctively asked. Everyone listened carefully for a moment. Nanfeng was confused: “There’s no sound.”

Qin Wanwan was a bit frightened. Jian Xingzhi frowned: “I think I heard a sound too.”

“Don’t talk about it anymore,” Qin Wanwan interrupted him. “It’s creepy. Let’s continue.”

As Qin Wanwan spoke, Jun Shu fell from the cliff. He frantically grabbed at anything in the air and caught hold of a vine, hanging in midair, finally saving his life.

He gasped for breath, his heart still pounding. For a moment, he couldn’t figure out what had just happened.

Where did that wild wind come from? Could assassins be waiting for him above?

No, that was impossible. If they were assassins, they would definitely wait for him to come up.

Jun Shu comforted himself for a moment, treating it as an accident. He took a few breaths and looked at the cliff top less than ten zhang away. He had already climbed for a day and a night—he couldn’t fail at the final stretch here!

He gritted his teeth, extended his withered, trembling hand, and began climbing once again.

The group above continued their song and dance. After dancing for a while, everyone was a bit tired. After resting briefly, Qin Wanwan turned to look at Jian Xingzhi: “That man with 90-point looks—why isn’t he here yet?”

“Wait a bit longer. Let’s rehearse again. After all, killings all happen at midnight.”

Jian Xingzhi’s explanation was very reasonable. Everyone nodded. Since they had nothing else to do anyway, they offered some improvement suggestions for the earlier dance.

“How did you think the dance just now was?”

Qin Wanwan solicited opinions. Everyone nodded.

“Excellent.” Xie Gutang responded.

Nanfeng applauded: “Super good!”

Jian Xingzhi nodded: “Not bad. There’s just one problem,” Jian Xingzhi frowned and thought, “Isn’t it too monotonous?”

Everyone looked at him. Jian Xingzhi explained: “Think about it—the moonlight is white, the clothes are white, everything is white. This color scheme is just average.”

“Senior is right.”

Xie Gutang nodded. This group of straight men had unexpectedly decent aesthetics: “It would be better with some flowers.”

As everyone spoke, they all looked toward a peach blossom tree nearby that was blooming perfectly.

The peach blossom tree’s position was a bit off, with some distance from their staging location. Jian Xingzhi clapped his hands: “That’s easy to fix. I’ll move it over.”

With that, Jian Xingzhi went to uproot the tree and instructed Nanfeng to dig a hole. Nanfeng dug quickly. Jian Xingzhi flexed his hands and placed them on the trunk.

“Pardon me.”

With that, he gave a great shout and uprooted the tree. Only then did they discover many vines wrapped around the trunk. Jian Xingzhi called to Xie Gutang: “Old Xie, help cut the vines.”

Xie Gutang nodded, raised his sword, and walked to the tree. With one sword strike, the vines were cut cleanly away.

At this time, Jun Shu was once again approaching the cliff.

Just a little bit more, just a tiny bit more.

His eyes were full of hope. He reached out to grab the vines nearby. There was no foothold above him—he could only rely on these vines to climb up. But just as he grabbed the vines, he heard a shout from above, followed by some vague sound.

Then the vines lost their anchor point and fell all the way down. Jun Shu panicked and grabbed a rock beside him. The weathered rock suddenly shattered, and he immediately slid down!

His flesh scraped against the jagged rocks on the cliff as he slid. It hurt so much he couldn’t even make a sound. He only grabbed onto a rock with his last survival instinct, thinking desperately and furiously—

Who! Who was it! Who dared harm him like this!

He would kill them, would definitely grind both this person and Shen Zhiming into dust, scatter their ashes to the wind. One day, he would kill them all!

Rage gave him motivation. He was exhausted and starving. His mortal body left him utterly fatigued, but he gathered his courage once more and climbed bit by bit.

This time he climbed very slowly. By the time the four people above were all tired, he was still climbing.

Cuilu sent someone up to call them down for barbecue. Qin Wanwan wearily waved her hand: “I can’t leave. I still need to wait for the target. You all go first.”

“I’ll keep her company.”

Jian Xingzhi had the self-awareness of a master: “Just bring some up when you finish eating.”

“Alright!”

Nanfeng responded and went down the mountain with Xie Gutang. After they went down, Qin Wanwan was somewhat tired. She stood at the cliff’s edge and turned to look at Jian Xingzhi: “Master, I’m so tired.”

“I’ll find you a rock to sit on.”

Jian Xingzhi turned to look for a rock.

Jun Shu finally climbed to the cliff. He had just extended one hand from the clouds and mist and placed it on the cliff’s edge when he heard a somewhat familiar voice: “Sit here.”

With that, a rock descended from the heavens and landed on Jun Shu’s hand.

Intense pain came. Jun Shu couldn’t even scream before he fainted from the pain on the spot.

His hand was pressed under the boulder, his entire body hanging in midair. When the wind blew, he was like a wind chime suspended in the air, swaying back and forth, only missing the tinkling sound.

Jian Xingzhi placed the rock at the edge and walked over. This rock was about the same height as an ordinary chair, half a zhang long. Qin Wanwan sat on it, and Jian Xingzhi, who was also a bit tired, walked over and sat on the other end.

“Master,” Qin Wanwan was very tired, “it’s already this late, and that man with 90-point looks still isn’t here. I’m getting sleepy.”

“He’s probably on his way, right?” Jian Xingzhi thought about it and encouraged her, “Hang in there a bit longer.”

“Why don’t we just give up?” Qin Wanwan thought about it. “I can’t dance anymore. Let’s just wait for him like this. When he comes, we’ll rescue him and be done with it.”

“Alright then.” Jian Xingzhi nodded. “If we can’t wait for the right moment, it’s not the right fate. If you’re sleepy, lean on me and sleep for a bit. I’ll earn points while you sleep.”

Qin Wanwan: “…”

Perfectly normal human words—why did they become dog speech when they came out of his mouth?

But Qin Wanwan didn’t pay it much mind. She was truly a bit sleepy, so she leaned on Jian Xingzhi’s shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

The mountain wind blew over. Jian Xingzhi watched peach blossoms flying in the distance and turned to glance at the little disciple leaning on his shoulder. He suddenly realized that in this lifetime, he had never lived so peacefully.

From the time he could remember, it had been: practice sword, fight, cultivate, practice sword, fight, cultivate…

Repeating cycles, ascending all the way.

Busy and rushed, never stopping for a moment. To pause for such a brief time now, letting his little disciple lean on him, watching flower petals bloom from high above, fall from high above, scatter with the wind and rush toward the distance—it actually felt quite nice.

He felt his state of mind loosen slightly. After letting Qin Wanwan lean on him for a while, he saw Nanfeng running up with two chicken wing skewers: “Master, Jian Daojun, eat chicken wings.”

Hearing about chicken wings, Qin Wanwan quickly opened her eyes. Jian Xingzhi took the chicken wings and handed them to Qin Wanwan, instructing Nanfeng: “Go get some water too.”

Nanfeng acknowledged and went back down the mountain. Qin Wanwan took the chicken wings. She and Jian Xingzhi each had one skewer and began gnawing on them.

After a while, mist rose in the mountains. The mist grew increasingly dense. Qin Wanwan turned to look: “Master, this mist isn’t right. Why is it so thick?”

“I’ll go check it out.” Jian Xingzhi handed his half-eaten chicken wing to Qin Wanwan. “Don’t wander around.”

“Okay.”

Qin Wanwan nodded and watched Jian Xingzhi walk toward where the mist was blowing from.

The wind blew past her chicken wing. The aroma mixed and drifted into Jun Shu’s nose. Jun Shu slowly woke up. He glanced around. Intense pain came from his hand. He raised his hand to push the rock.

Qin Wanwan felt the rock beneath her shake. She froze while eating her chicken wing, then jumped up abruptly, gripping her chicken wing and staring at that boulder from afar.

The surrounding mist grew thicker and thicker until she could barely see ahead. Qin Wanwan looked around and realized Jian Xingzhi had already gone far away.

The entire mountaintop had an eerie wind. For a moment, there was an inexplicable horror movie atmosphere. She stared at the rock not far ahead and saw it seemed like someone was striking the rock, vibrating once, then again.

Countless horror movies flashed through Qin Wanwan’s mind, even providing background music. Finally, the rock was suddenly pushed over, and a blood-soaked hand rose from the cliff!

Qin Wanwan screamed in fright. She gripped her chicken wing and backed away, watching a person covered in blood climb up from below the cliff with difficulty, just like Sadako.

He stared at her intently. On his aged face, a pair of eyes held wolf-like hunger as he reached out his hand toward her.

In the thick fog, he trembled and spoke with difficulty: “Chick…”

Before the words “chicken wing” could come out, Qin Wanwan couldn’t bear it. Fear surged up. She suddenly reacted and, holding the chicken wing, blasted a surge of spiritual power at the other party while screaming: “Master!!”

Hearing Qin Wanwan’s scream, Jian Xingzhi’s heart contracted. He raised his sword to split the mist and swiftly rushed toward where Qin Wanwan’s voice came from, shouting: “Beicheng!”

The mist was split by his sword. He saw a figure being blasted away by Qin Wanwan’s spiritual power. Without time to think, he rushed forward and kicked the person viciously in the face. The person shot across the sky like a meteor, flying into the distance.

Jian Xingzhi quickly turned back to Qin Wanwan: “How are you? Are you alright?”

“Just now… that…”

Qin Wanwan was too frightened to calm down: “What was that?”

Jian Xingzhi was stunned. He carefully recalled the person he had just kicked away, then suddenly realized that although he hadn’t seen that person’s face clearly, above their head…

It seemed to have a green 90??

Jian Xingzhi’s eyes widened as he exclaimed: “Oh no, the mission target!”

Qin Wanwan was confused: “Mission target?! How did he come up from below the cliff? And that appearance…”

Qin Wanwan was at a loss for words. Jian Xingzhi steadied her emotions: “It doesn’t matter now. Let’s hurry and find him. Don’t let him die.”

“Oh right,” Qin Wanwan also felt guilty. “I was too impulsive just now. Let’s hurry and find him.”

With that, Qin Wanwan raised her hand and changed into lighter clothes. The two rose on their swords together and began searching in the direction the person had been kicked. Jian Xingzhi fully extended his divine sense, searching almost inch by inch through the land. Finally, he found a place: “Found him!”

Jian Xingzhi brought Qin Wanwan down on their swords and entered the dense forest to see Jun Shu already half-buried in the ground, stuck headfirst into the earth.

Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi quickly pulled him out. Only then did they discover this person looked like a centenarian, with white hair, thin as a skeleton, covered in blood, with all the bones in one hand completely shattered, his entire being barely clinging to life.

“Quick, medicine.”

Jian Xingzhi transmitted spiritual power to Jun Shu and instructed Qin Wanwan.

Qin Wanwan mimicked Jian Xingzhi’s usual style and fed Jun Shu medicine, but Jun Shu was unconscious and couldn’t open his mouth. Jian Xingzhi became anxious: “Dislocate his jaw!”

Qin Wanwan nodded and decisively dislocated his jaw, threw the medicine into his mouth, then reconnected it.

Jun Shu opened his eyes groggily to see a beautiful woman half-kneeling before him in red clothes, looking at him with an anxious expression: “Old man,” Qin Wanwan was both guilty and anxious, “are you alright?”

Old man?

Jun Shu was somewhat confused. Only then did he remember that now, with his cultivation completely lost, he indeed looked like an old man.

Having been accustomed to being a handsome man, suddenly becoming what he was now, he instinctively lowered his head, wanting to hide his appearance. But Qin Wanwan only thought he was uncomfortable and felt her heart sink with a “thud.”

Seeing that bloody hand, she roughly guessed what had happened. Thinking of that rock pressing on this old man’s hand, she felt very guilty. She quickly spoke: “Old man, if you feel unwell, tell us. We’ll do everything we can to help you!”

Jian Xingzhi didn’t speak. He just stared at the 90 points above Jun Shu’s head.

90-point looks were like this?

He couldn’t believe it, but looking left and right, he couldn’t see any flaws in this person’s disguise. Jun Shu didn’t dare answer rashly, but after a moment, his stomach growled. He could only speak: “I’m hungry.”

Having climbed for a day and a night, for a mortal body to make it to now was already extremely difficult.

Just now, he had been desperate for the chicken wing. His attention was entirely on the chicken wing. In the thick fog, he hadn’t even seen his enemy clearly!

Jun Shu secretly blamed himself. Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi exchanged a glance. Jian Xingzhi nodded: “Alright, I’ll carry you back to eat.”

With that, Jian Xingzhi hoisted the frail old man over one shoulder and said to Qin Wanwan: “Let’s go.”

Without waiting for Qin Wanwan to speak, Jian Xingzhi departed on his sword. Wild wind blew into their faces, making Jun Shu’s sparse hair slap against his face.

But he didn’t speak. Sword-riding was a basic spell any cultivator could perform after Foundation Establishment. How could he not even endure sword-riding!

He wouldn’t admit defeat. He would rise again. Sooner or later, he would rebuild himself and return to kill Shen Zhiming! Kill that woman with the chicken wing! And kill that person who kicked him.

But he hadn’t even seen that person’s clothes clearly. How infuriating!

Jun Shu endured the wild wind’s assault. Jian Xingzhi carried him to the camp where everyone had almost finished the barbecue and was starting to cook porridge. Seeing Jian Xingzhi and Qin Wanwan return one after the other carrying an old man, everyone was stunned.

Cuilu looked at the newcomer and frowned: “Where did you pick up this decrepit old man?”

“Lord Cuilu, we rescued this person along the way,” Qin Wanwan quickly spoke to appease Cuilu. “He seems to have been pursued. We’ll just send him somewhere safe.”

They had mentioned their task to Cuilu. Cuilu glanced at Jun Shu and said no more, lowering her head to drink porridge unhappily and muttering sullenly: “Rescuing a handsome man would be one thing, but looking like this, what’s worth rescuing?”

Hearing this, Jun Shu clenched his fists. But he knew that when under someone’s roof, one must bow one’s head. He could only grit his teeth silently and pin his hopes on the future.

Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side—don’t bully the young and poor. One day, he, Young Master Jun…

“Here, drink some porridge.” Qin Wanwan handed him a bowl of porridge and quietly comforted him, “Don’t take Lord Cuilu’s words to heart. She’s hard-mouthed but soft-hearted. Drink some porridge and fill your stomach.”

Jun Shu didn’t speak. He listened to this woman’s chatter.

He looked around and discovered they were all acquaintances. This woman, the man who had just carried him, and Xie Gutang…

He knew them all.

He secretly lowered his eyes, took the bowl with one hand, and spoke softly: “Thank you.”

“No need. You still have injuries. After you finish the porridge, I’ll have my master examine you.”

Jun Shu acknowledged and raised the bowl to his mouth to gulp down the porridge with one hand.

He was extremely hungry but still tried his best to maintain proper etiquette. After finishing the porridge, he raised his eyes to see Qin Wanwan and Jian Xingzhi sitting together, looking at him somewhat nervously.

Qin Wanwan wore red clothes and resembled someone in his memory somewhat.

But that person had a colder, more flamboyant personality. When traveling outside, she would never rescue an unrelated decrepit old man.

Jun Shu put down the bowl and heard Qin Wanwan ask hesitantly: “Um, old man, what’s your name?”

“Nameless.”

Jun Shu wouldn’t be foolish enough to give his real name at this time. He asked back: “What about you all?”

“I’m called Qin Wanwan.” Qin Wanwan uniformly used the name she had given Xie Gutang. For the sake of keeping “Gu Beicheng’s” uniqueness to himself, Jian Xingzhi didn’t correct her. He heard Qin Wanwan introduce him: “This is my master, Jian Xingzhi.”

Jun Shu nodded. Only now did he realize that this person’s name… only had one more character than Qin Wan.

“Um,” Jian Xingzhi pondered, “how did you end up there?”

You should have appeared properly at Beauty Cliff, being chased up the mountain by people, right? How did you end up climbing up from the cliff?

Jian Xingzhi couldn’t figure it out. But he also felt guilty and didn’t dare expose that he was the culprit who had kicked him away. He could only start inquiring from the root cause.

Hearing this question, Jun Shu clenched his fists: “I was pursued by my enemy. When I reached below the cliff, to escape the pursuit, I could only climb the cliff to enter Ning clan territory.”

Everyone gathered around and began listening to Jun Shu’s experience. As Jun Shu spoke, his expression was grief-stricken: “I had originally climbed to the mountaintop, but unexpectedly, a wild wind passed by and I fell down!”

At this moment, everyone on the cliff simultaneously recalled that initial auditory hallucination. Qin Wanwan felt somewhat guilty: “And then?”

“Fortunately, I was lucky and caught a vine halfway down. I started climbing again. When I was about to reach the top, I grabbed a vine…” Hearing this, everyone felt guilty again. Jun Shu’s eyes reddened with anger. “Who could have known that vine would suddenly break!”

Everyone looked at Xie Gutang together. Xie Gutang swallowed: “It… it is quite tragic.”

“But I was lucky and barely escaped with my life.”

No, your luck was not good at all.

Everyone silently lowered their heads, not daring to speak. Jun Shu continued recalling his tragic experience: “I climbed up the cliff again through sheer willpower, but just as I placed my hand on the cliff’s edge, a boulder descended from the heavens and struck my hand.”

Jun Shu raised his hand, which was bandaged like a boxing glove, grief-stricken: “I fainted from the pain on the spot and hung on the cliff. When I woke up again, I was so hungry. I smelled the aroma of chicken wings and climbed up, wanting to ask that person to give me some chicken wings to eat. Who could have known they would kick me from the cliff and I’d end up stuck where you all rescued me!”

Jun Shu grew sadder as he spoke: “What did I do wrong? I only wanted to survive. I only wanted to eat some chicken wings. Was I wrong?!”

Everyone sat stiffly together, frantically shaking their heads. Nanfeng hid the chicken wings behind his back and didn’t dare take them out again.

“Everyone, today you all saved me. This great kindness and virtue—I, Nameless, am grateful in my heart.” Jun Shu thought about it and couldn’t only talk about hateful matters. He expressed thanks to everyone. “Nameless was framed and has fallen to this state. Thanks to everyone’s noble righteousness in rescuing me, if you’re willing to protect Nameless until my family comes to get me, there will definitely be great rewards in the future.”

“I don’t really care about great rewards. What I care about is,” Qin Wanwan asked carefully, “um, if you knew who sent you down the cliff, what would you do?”

“I must kill them.”

Jun Shu’s eyes were full of hateful light: “Capture them, grind them into dust, scatter their ashes, and vent the hatred in my heart!”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Jun Shu suddenly remembered: “You’re asking this—could it be you know who my enemy is?”

“No idea.”

Qin Wanwan answered decisively: “We were just passing by, saw you stuck in the ground, and helped you out. Old man, you don’t need to overthink. The urgent matter is to quickly send word to your family and have them come get you. Getting home safely is most important. You don’t need to thank us too much. In the future, we’ll go our separate ways. The jianghu road is long,” Qin Wanwan raised her hands in a salute, speaking from the heart, “we need never meet again.”

—

**Author’s Note:**

[Mini Theater 1]

Jian Xingzhi: “My little disciple is sleeping leaning on me, peach blossoms are flying—I feel so happy.”

Jun Shu: “When you’re happy, can you please glance behind you?”

Jian Xingzhi: “No. Real men never look back.”

[Mini Theater 2]

Qin Wanwan: “Only now do I realize this is actually Journey to the West. I’m Tang Sanzang.”

Jian Xingzhi: “I’m the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.”

Xie Gutang: “I’m the Second Disciple.”

Cuilu: “I’m the Third Disciple.”

Nanfeng: “I’m the White Dragon Horse.”

Can we go fetch the scriptures now?

[Mini Theater 3]

Jian Xingzhi: “What are you here for? Want to develop a romance plot?”

Jun Shu: “…Don’t dare…”

Qin Wanwan: “Then what are you here for?”

Jun Shu: “Just… thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the…”

Jian Xingzhi: “I remember now—you once hit me. Now, it’s the west side of the river.”