The chill of early spring nights had that quality of being not biting but penetratingly cool. Wrapped in the wind and carried in a rush, Feng Zhiwei quickly froze into an ice stick.

She couldn’t raise her head and couldn’t see the face of the person who had seized her. She only saw sky-water blue robes flowing unhurriedly in the wind—clearly that gauze-faced man who had tried to grab and destroy her face.

This person’s clothing looked somewhat strange. The Tiansheng imperial dynasty was prosperous and romantic, and contemporary clothing fashions favored loose and revealing styles. Men exposing a bit of collarbone was considered refined beauty. However, this person was wrapped up tightly from top to bottom. The hanging gauze veil draped down to his shoulders, not exposing even a fraction of his neck. His sleeves were also longer than average people’s, completely covering his fingers when lowered, without regard for whether this would be inconvenient when fighting.

The scent on his body was different from Ning Yi’s gorgeously cool fragrance like flourishing flowers and abundant snow. Instead, it was the scent of green waterweed in flowing water—seemingly undetectable, but after leaving, one could recall that slightly astringent yet clean sensation.

He held Feng Zhiwei—with two fingers, fingertips still raised. This wasn’t an affected orchid finger gesture, but clearly showed unwillingness to touch any part of Feng Zhiwei’s body.

Feng Zhiwei smiled bitterly, thinking this was most likely another difficult character. The wide-robed guest clearly had extraordinary martial arts, but this person seemed even higher in skill. If she had known it would be like this, she might as well have gone to jail.

But this person was a complete stranger—why capture her?

Her body suddenly jerked heavily, leaving her dizzy and disoriented. It took her a long time to see clearly that they had stopped in a wilderness outside the city.

That person threw her to the ground, and while throwing her, conveniently sealed her acupoints. Then he stood still and didn’t move.

He stood motionless, saying nothing. Moonlight coldly revealed a curve of frosty white. In that patch of white he was crystalline and pure, even more like a statue.

Feng Zhiwei looked up at him, feeling uneasy in her heart, suddenly suspecting whether she was stuck together with some legendary eternally youthful, ageless corpse.

Fortunately her mute acupoint wasn’t sealed. She tentatively tried to make conversation: “Hey…”

That person didn’t move, didn’t even turn his head. Feng Zhiwei wasn’t discouraged and continued calling: “Hey… Hero…”

That person suddenly responded, answering to the air in front of him: “Hey, Hero.”

“…”

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

“…”

“My name is Wei Zhi…”

“…My name is Wei Zhi.”

“…”

Feng Zhiwei could no longer persist. With a bitter face, she speculated—was this person an echo bug? Or was this really a corpse? A beautiful corpse that couldn’t speak human language?

That person stood quietly, seemingly slowly thinking about something, then remembered something and shook his head.

This was his first gesture that gave Feng Zhiwei the feeling of being “human-like.” Hope kindled in her heart. She changed the topic and asked: “Hero, we have no grudges or enmity. Why did you capture me?”

This time that person was finally a bit more normal and answered: “Capture person.”

What does that mean?

“Capture who?”

“Person.”

Feng Zhiwei’s face turned half green—of course I know I’m a person!

She changed the way she asked: “The person you want to capture—is it me?”

That person tilted his head. Moonlight transmitted through the hazy gauze veil below the hat. Vaguely those eyes were bright and still, like a piece of congealed jade, without any flow.

“Capture person in courtyard.”

Feng Zhiwei was stunned again. After thinking, she asked: “No matter who, as long as they’re in the courtyard? The problem is there were many people in the courtyard at that time.”

That person seemed to think for a moment. He spoke very slowly, answered slowly, uttering word by word, his voice tone completely without rises and falls. When answering he didn’t look at people, his gaze only falling on the ground one chi and three cun in front of him, seeming like a person with incomplete mental faculties. However, Feng Zhiwei knew that people with incomplete mental faculties would find it very difficult to learn his level of supreme martial arts that flowed like clouds and water.

Then she heard him answer: “They said, capture person in courtyard.”

Feng Zhiwei was stunned for a long while and somewhat understood. It seemed this person had come under orders, probably to capture the wide-robed guest. The wide-robed guest had always lived alone with no outside visitors, so this single-minded person was instructed that he only needed to capture the person in the courtyard. Who knew she would run into this, and when this person finally grabbed, it was the wide-robed guest. The wide-robed guest dodged, so he conveniently grabbed her.

What rotten luck!

Suddenly she felt something wasn’t right. Ning Yi had also been there at the time—why not capture him?

She honestly stated her question, but this question seemed too difficult for the other party. Under the moonlight that person again stood like a jade carving and didn’t answer.

Cold wind hissed, moonlight was silent, one sitting and one standing, big eyes staring at small eyes—oh no, big eyes staring at gauze veil.

Half a shichen passed.

Moonlight was silent, big eyes staring at gauze veil…

One shichen passed.

Cold wind hissed, big eyes staring at gauze veil…

The gauze veil remained completely motionless, the jade carving’s standing posture forever perfect, but Feng Zhiwei was about to collapse—what was this about!

“What are you going to do?”

The jade carving answered: “Wait.”

“Wait for whom?”

“Them.”

Feng Zhiwei moaned miserably, knowing there was no point asking who “them” were—she wouldn’t get an answer anyway. “Why haven’t they come yet?”

Let them come already. Being killed with one slash would be better than waiting here on spring night muddy ground with sealed acupoints together with a jade carving.

At least whoever came should be normal people, still having room to negotiate. With a jade carving or stone, there was no possibility of breakthrough.

“Don’t know.”

As expected, he didn’t know. Feng Zhiwei’s fury blazed up. Even the best temper couldn’t withstand this grinding test. Suppressing her anger, she looked around for a long while at the similar-looking wilderness scenery in all directions, then had a sudden realization: “You arranged to meet in the wilderness? Did you get the wrong road?”

In this wilderness, trees and rocks had many similar places. Recently she’d heard that Qingming Academy outside the city was expanding, and there were terrain changes from quarrying and road alterations. Could it be this person was coming to the imperial capital for the first time, his group of companions failed to explain the location clearly, so he got lost?

That person slowly turned his neck, looked for a long while, and slowly answered: “Perhaps.”

Okay… Heaven gave birth to me just to temper me, test me, and ultimately fulfill me… After gritting her teeth for a long while, Feng Zhiwei said hatefully: “I know the way. Unseal my acupoints and I’ll lead you to find the place you need to go.”

“They want me to wait.”

“That’s waiting in the correct place!” Feng Zhiwei finally shouted in a most unrefined manner.

That person was forever unmoved by Feng Zhiwei, without any confusion, continuing to answer firmly and simply: “Wait.”

“Then can you unseal my acupoints?” The utterly defeated Feng Zhiwei pleaded. “They didn’t say you couldn’t unseal the acupoints, right?”

This sentence finally had an effect. The jade carving thought for a long while, nodded, and with a wave of his sleeve—

Feng Zhiwei immediately felt her body loosen—this person could actually unseal acupoints from a distance! This kind of martial arts, from her recent exposure to martial arts knowledge while around the wide-robed guest, was absolutely world-shaking.

She scrambled up with a roll, patted the dust off her body, didn’t even glance at that jade carving, and smiled: “Hero, they didn’t say what to do after capturing someone, right?”

The jade carving was silent, seemingly searching his memory for a fixed answer to this question. After a long while, he shook his head.

“Didn’t say to kill them, right?”

“They said to ask some things, ask where that person is.”

The second half was incoherent. Feng Zhiwei didn’t understand and didn’t care, only grasping the key point. “Since they didn’t tell you how to handle the captured person, only told you to wait, then you wait for yours, I’ll go my way… Farewell.”

Farewell, never to meet again.

Being together with this kind of person would drive one crazy.

Feng Zhiwei left decisively without looking back. Walking quite far, she couldn’t help but look back.

That person still stood motionless in the original place. Under the moonlight his shadow was long. His sky-water blue robes were like a transparent wind in the moonlight, drifting leisurely.

Feng Zhiwei snorted and continued walking.

A mountain hollow suddenly appeared ahead. Only then did Feng Zhiwei recognize this as a mountain peak of Pine Mountain ten li outside the city. This place was very remote with few visitors. However, three li ahead there was a Guest Reception Pavilion standing quite conspicuously.

If she hadn’t guessed wrong, the “them” in that few-brain-cells person’s mouth had certainly arranged to meet at the easily recognizable Guest Reception Pavilion, but this person ran to the wrong place, running to the mountain hollow behind the mountain.

Feng Zhiwei smiled gleefully, thinking: Wait then. See how you wait there without moving a step. By the time people find that place, you’ll definitely have starved to death.

She continued forward, walking a few more steps.

Then suddenly sighed and stopped.

Alas…

Then she turned around and strode back to that person’s side. That person still stood facing the moon, indifferent to both her departure and arrival.

Feng Zhiwei was once again firmly convinced this person really might wait here until he starved to death.

She reached out to lead him. That person immediately dodged. Feng Zhiwei said: “You got the wrong road. They’re waiting for you in a different place.”

That person finally tilted his head slightly. Feng Zhiwei smiled and took hold of his sleeve. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”

That person then followed along.

Feng Zhiwei happily led this person, walking in the deserted wilderness, but didn’t walk toward the Guest Reception Pavilion direction. She was calculating her wishful thinking:

His clothing material was excellent—he must have plenty of silver on him. She didn’t dare return to the city now, and hadn’t brought out the three thousand taels banknote. Perfect to borrow from him to spend.

His martial arts were so high, and he was easy to deceive. Her safety now seemed very problematic. Perfect to lead him away as a bodyguard…

On the third day of the second month in the year Gengshen, on a dark and windy night, Miss Feng, Feng Zhiwei, thinking she was getting a great bargain, led away a mysterious man…