Rong Chen Zi had waited by the well for He Bang, but instead received someone he never could have anticipated.

His footsteps faltered, his face filled with shock. “Chunyu Lin?”

Chunyu Lin’s crimson robes trailed along the ground, his bearing graceful and unhurried. “Rong Chen Zi, it has been a long time.”

His hair was dark as spilled ink, his features refined and exquisite — his manner and bearing as elegant as ever. Yet Rong Chen Zi quickly spotted the flaw. “Such a paltry illusion — do you think it can bewitch me?”

The Chunyu Lin before him smiled lightly. When he smiled, it was as though the morning sun had just crested the horizon, his beauty unrivalled. “And so I did not come to bewitch Zhiguan at all. I came only to tell Zhiguan certain things.” His right hand rose slightly, and a scroll of green documents appeared within it. Rong Chen Zi’s brow furrowed sharply. “A Divine-Demon Covenant!”

Chunyu Lin extended his right hand, and the covenant slowly unfurled. “Over three hundred years ago, He Bang was gravely wounded and was rescued by my descendants. She entered into a Divine-Demon Covenant with me. She was to cultivate a demon vessel, allow me to possess its soul, and escape the Eternal Realm.”

Rong Chen Zi stepped back, his gaze sharp as needles. So that was it. So that was it all along.

And so many mysteries could now be unravelled. Even gravely wounded, she had managed to escape from Jiang Haoran’s grasp — which meant that at the time, she had already lost all ability to act on her own, and even Jiang Haoran had never thought to guard against her fleeing. With such a frail mortal body as hers, how could she have survived in the water?

The Mingshe had saved her and brought her to Changgang Mountain to heal her. The price was that she swore the Divine-Demon Covenant, agreeing to help it escape its seal. The method was to cultivate a demon vessel for the Mingshe to possess — which was why she had swept Chunyu Lin away and devoted herself wholly to cultivating him. That was why the Mingshe had continually sought her out yet pretended to be a stranger to her. That was why she had always kept something back from Rong Chen Zi, unwilling to reveal the truth.

Rong Chen Zi closed his eyes. His heart felt as though it were being scorched in oil and branded by flame.

Ye Tian hesitated slightly. “Senior Brother, I think it would be better to ask that river clam directly about this matter. After all, the Mingshe speaks only from its own side — one cannot believe it entirely.”

Rong Chen Zi shook his head. “However untrustworthy the Mingshe may be, the Divine-Demon Covenant in its hands cannot be forged. She must undoubtedly have made such a pact with it.”

Chunyu Lin smiled mildly, a demonic, sinister air lurking beneath his gentle exterior. “Do any of you still have a way out?”

Rong Chen Zi hurled a silver talisman at him. Chunyu Lin dispersed like flame into nothingness.

Even the Three-Eyed Snake was struck dumb with astonishment. “So His Majesty had already met my master long before this — and they were even working together!!”

Ye Tian planted her foot on its tail. It leapt up, still not grasping the situation. “So right now, am I on my master’s side, or on your side, Zhiguan?! Whose side am I even on?!”

He Bang stood on the rim of the well. She knew nothing of Daoist arts and had no way to break an illusion through technique — she could only dispel it through sheer cultivation. She reasoned that she had not walked far since descending into the well, and however she looked at it, she was still somewhere near the well — which meant the water here had to be real. She proceeded to draw out all the water from within the well, accumulating it around her the way one blows bubbles, more and more gathering together. The Mingshe’s true body had not yet emerged, and conjuring an illusory realm to confuse her had already been no easy feat — so the space could not be very large. Now that she filled it with water, it immediately burst apart.

Only then did He Bang discover that she was still at the bottom of the well — within the illusion, the top and bottom of the well had been reversed. She trod upward on the water once more, and this time, she emerged to find Rong Chen Zi and his companions waiting by the well’s edge. She called out with delight and flung herself toward him, acting spoiled. “Zhiguan! What in the world — that Mingshe set up an illusory realm down there and gave me quite a fright!”

But Rong Chen Zi did not comfort her. He only hummed a low sound of acknowledgment.

He Bang found this peculiar. She glanced around at Ye Tian and the young Daoist disciples behind her. “What is the matter?”

No one answered. Even the Three-Eyed Snake hid itself behind Qingshu and refused to show its face. Rong Chen Zi said lightly, “Nothing. Let us go.”

He Bang could naturally sense that the atmosphere was wrong. She cast suspicious glances from one person to the next, then in the end still pressed close to Rong Chen Zi’s side. Rong Chen Zi was inwardly conflicted — should he believe the Mingshe’s words, or should he believe He Bang, who seemed all innocence and naivety? He was not a man easily swayed, and he knew the Mingshe’s motives were impure — but at least what it had said was true. He Bang had indeed entered a covenant with it, and Chunyu Lin’s body had indeed been claimed by it.

He Bang stayed right at his side, leaning against him from time to time like a child who had done something wrong and was trying to win favour. Rong Chen Zi’s heart grew even more tangled.

Though the Li Family Settlement was shrouded in malevolent energy, most of it was not the Mingshe’s doing. It had brought Chunyu Lin’s body here to cultivate, and the malevolent energy that permeated the place had given rise to countless monsters. He Bang trailed after Rong Chen Zi in low spirits, with no idea what she had done wrong this time. She was not a particularly perceptive person, and the reason she behaved this way was always because of a guilty conscience.

Rong Chen Zi wanted to scold her and shout at her — and yet also wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her close. But in the end, he did nothing. Even if she had made a pact with the Mingshe, it was something from the past. Perhaps he truly should try to trust her.

They continued forward. There was a small bamboo grove, and just beyond it a cattle pen. With so many strange occurrences these days, most livestock had turned into demons, and the cattle had gone who knew where. Clustered beside the cattle pen were a few households standing close together. Rong Chen Zi naturally went to inspect them first, while He Bang, who had seen proper dwellings before but never a cattle pen, paused to rest by its side. The cattle pen was built of stone. Peering in through the square little window, she could see nothing but blackness and straw. He Bang stuck her head inside to look.

She had just caught sight of the post where the cattle were tethered when suddenly a face appeared before her — eyeballs dangling from their sockets, maggots writhing across them, the other eye wide open and staring directly at her.

He Bang was silent for two full seconds.

Then came a scream so piercing it could split the heart, and it gave even Ye Tian a tremendous fright.

Rong Chen Zi had not yet made it out when Qingxuan came forward first, yanking He Bang behind himself. The group finally caught sight of what was inside the cattle pen. It was Li Pan, mauled to death by some beast. Even his lips had turned black, and green vapour spewed from his mouth. Qingxuan drew a corpse-suppressing talisman from the cloth pouch at his waist and affixed it to his forehead. Li Pan’s movement ceased — but only for a brief moment before the talisman ignited on its own without any flame.

It was fortunate that Rong Chen Zi came rushing out from the house in time. He formed a hand seal with one hand and pressed it onto the talisman paper on the corpse’s forehead.

Li Pan kept opening his mouth as though he had something to say. Rong Chen Zi leaned his ear close. Li Pan pointed at He Bang and struggled to speak: “Water demon… killed… people…”

He Bang stared wide-eyed. “Who? Me?”

Li Pan’s entire body suddenly went into convulsions. White sinew erupted from the rotting flesh where the skin had sloughed away, writhing like worms. Ye Tian had long since turned away and was retching.

He Bang retreated slowly. She was not happy either. If she had acted as her nature dictated, she would have stormed off in anger long ago. But she knew she could not leave — and so she was composing herself with uncommon calm. “I don’t know what it is you suspect. But right now you must trust me. Because right now the only internal cultivator we have is Gao Bixin, and she has only been practising wind-based techniques for just over three hundred years — I know better than anyone how much foundation she has. If it is left to her alone, you will never be able to kill two Mingshes.”

She said you all. Rong Chen Zi felt a faint ache in his heart. Then, suddenly, he said in a low voice: “I trust you.”

He Bang was rather doubtful — she herself felt somewhat guilty about the whole matter. “Really?”

Rong Chen Zi’s tone gradually steadied. “Yes.”

He Bang beamed with joy, waving her hands and feet in delight. She pressed her face against Rong Chen Zi’s chest, her manner wonderfully intimate. “Zhiguan, you are the best!”

Rong Chen Zi stroked her long hair. “Come, let us see if there are any more households further ahead.”

He Bang followed along behind him, walking forward in high spirits. The Three-Eyed Snake crept up furtively and whispered in her ear, “Your Majesty — whose side are you actually on?”

He Bang brought her foot down on its tail, sending it leaping high into the air.

The few households beside the cattle pen had all met with calamity. Inside the houses, everything was in disarray, and even the stone walls had been stained with blood. In one home, not a single body remained — only a vast expanse of dried blood splattered across the ceiling. Rong Chen Zi had not intended to let Ye Tian and He Bang go inside, but Ye Tian was worried there might still be survivors and went in to search. He Bang, ever curious about new sights, wanted to peek at everything — and so both of them went inside anyway.

Their purposes, however, were rather different. Ye Tian searched the bedrooms while He Bang rummaged through the kitchen.

The Li Family Settlement had always been poor, and these few households were practically bare to the walls. There was naturally nothing good to eat in the kitchen — but He Bang did manage to pull a small boy out of the grain jar. He was four or five years old, wearing a padded cotton jacket and cloth trousers, already so hungry he had not a scrap of strength left. He Bang felt she could not return empty-handed, so she carried him out.

Ye Tian took him first. Qingshu happened to have an orange in his pack, so she pressed out some juice and fed it to the child.

He Bang leaned in to watch from the side. But the moment the child opened his eyes, he immediately pointed at her and cried out in a loud voice: “A water demon! Master, it was her — she killed my father, my mother, and my grandmother!”

He Bang rubbed her nose, and for once did not grow anxious. “If I had killed them, there would be no trace left on the ground at all.”

Rong Chen Zi’s expression changed sharply. “Could it be that a snake borrowed someone’s spirit energy and impersonated you?”

He Bang shook her head. “If it cultivates immortality, it would certainly be skilled in transformation. It may well have taken on my appearance.”

Rong Chen Zi nodded, and they searched a few more households, rescuing over ten survivors before finding no more signs of life. Rong Chen Zi gathered everyone together and could only sigh — who could have imagined that such a perfectly ordinary village would suffer such senseless catastrophe?

He instructed Ye Tian: “Let us open the barrier together and send them on their way.”

Ye Tian had no objections. The two of them formed their hand seals, and without any apparent effort, the transparent barrier dissolved on its own. Rong Chen Zi dispatched two young Daoist disciples to escort the survivors out of Lingxia Town to the Anguo Temple, where they were to take temporary shelter. He himself then led Ye Tian, He Bang, and the others toward Changgang Mountain where the Mingshe’s seal was located. The Mingshe’s soul had now broken free of its confinement, but its physical body remained there. Once that body was destroyed, the matter would be as good as resolved.

By the time they arrived at Changgang Mountain, Jiang Haoran and his companions had already engaged the Mingshe. Gao Bixin was exhausted to the point of looking pale and blue-lipped — having practised wind-based techniques for only three-hundred-odd years, she was simply no match for these two ancient divine beasts.

Seeing Rong Chen Zi and his group arrive, Jiang Haoran also let out a breath of relief — he had underestimated these two snakes as well. Zhuang Shaoqin had a habit of taking things easy, and true to form, his robes were immaculate and his bearing lofty. But with Rong Chen Zi’s arrival, Zhuang Shaoqin dared not continue standing around and promptly threw himself into the fight. He Bang walked to the outer perimeter and stopped. Rong Chen Zi tried to pull her along, but she would not budge.

Jiang Haoran knew her better, and when he spoke, his question was blunt: “What is it you want?”

He Bang was perfectly serious. “If you want my help killing the Mingshe, you may have it. Return what belongs to me.”

Jiang Haoran’s expression shifted slightly. Gao Bixin was so terrified her soul very nearly fled her body. “Jiang Haoran! You would dare agree to her terms?!”

He Bang settled herself on a boulder. The mountain wind swept upward from below, lifting her robes and long hair — she looked like a painting. “Then I shall take my leave!”

She leapt down and truly did lift her foot to go. Jiang Haoran suddenly seized her wrist. “Panpan,” he lowered his voice and called her name with every ounce of tenderness he possessed, “the Celestial Water Spirit Essence has already entered Bixin’s body. How can it be taken back out?”

He Bang slowly withdrew her jade-like hand, her expression haughty and cold. “When it was inside my body, was it not taken out as well?”

At last Rong Chen Zi understood why she had insisted on going to the Li Family Settlement with him first. Her true intent had never been to rescue anyone — what she had been thinking of all along was that Celestial Wind Spirit Essence. The critical bargaining chip at the final moment. Every single thing she did seemed to have its purpose.

Jiang Haoran hesitated for a long while. Then, suddenly, he made up his mind. “If I… return the Celestial Wind Spirit Essence to you, would you be willing to come back with me to the Jialing River? Panpan, my feelings for you have never changed. In those days, you loved me too, did you not? No matter how late it grew, you would always wait for me to come home. On cold days you would insist on eating hot pot, and we would go catch perch together in the river together… Can you truly let go of what we once shared?”

He rested his hands on He Bang’s shoulders. He Bang gazed at him in silence, as though the heartfelt tale he recounted was simply someone else’s story. “If you want me to act against the Mingshe, you may have that.” Her voice was quiet, but every word fell with perfect clarity. “Return what belongs to me.”

The battle against the Mingshe was already half-fought, and the Jiang household had invested enormous resources — manpower and material alike. There was no possibility of abandoning the effort halfway. Her expression was glacially cold, without the slightest room for negotiation.

Had she made this demand two days prior, Jiang Haoran might yet have summoned several internal cultivators to aid them. But raised at this moment, he had no way out. He had no choice but to look to Gao Bixin beside him.

Gao Bixin’s gaze was saturated with an indescribable terror. “No — Cousin!”

He Bang’s face remained as cold and expressionless as ice. Her only movement was to extend a hand and pass over a transparent, cone-shaped blade.

Ye Tian suddenly recalled something He Bang had once said at Qingxu Monastery, in a voice so light it could almost be missed — Past debts and future reckoning — they will be settled, sooner or later.