Chen Zhou held the devastated Wen Su tightly, giving her a sense of security and helping her calm down. Only after the person in his arms stopped trembling did he softly say, “You did very well.”
Wen Su tried hard to control her emotions with deep breaths, her voice choked with tears as she said, “I’m sorry.”
She didn’t dare raise her head to look at Chen Zhou, failing to notice that his eyes still revealed the same calm and steady demeanor as before.
“You haven’t wronged anyone. Don’t say such things again.”
Chen Zhou helped wipe her tears, and the grime on her face was wiped away by the tears, making it clean. So Chen Zhou tugged at his sleeve and smudged her face black again. Only then did Wen Su slowly raise her head to look at him, tear drops still hanging from her eyelashes, falling when they trembled onto his fingertips that had traced the corner of her eye.
Wen Su’s nose and eyes were red from crying, unable to control herself in that moment of emotional outburst.
After she calmed down, Chen Zhou said, “Wen Su, don’t think about tonight anymore. Go back and stay there for now. Right now, Xu Liangzhi doesn’t have time to trouble you. As for what you said…”
“I want to do it with my own hands.”
Wen Su heard this with slight surprise, feeling for a moment that she had been wrong.
He seemed to be just as she had first seen him.
Chen Zhou wiped her tears dry and calmly said, “Go back and ask Gu San to give you his clothes.”
Wen Su softly agreed. She sniffled and tried to take deep breaths. Chen Zhou saw that she was still like a docile, pitiful child who had done something wrong, just as before, and felt somewhat helpless.
When she lowered her head without speaking, looking so obedient, it always reminded him of a bad-tempered junior sister from his childhood who would pretend to be well-behaved in front of him after causing trouble.
Chen Zhou reached out to pat Wen Su’s head, filling her heart with countless strengths.
“Go now.”
Chen Zhou watched as Wen Su left and disappeared into the distance.
The Skypit was somewhat lively now. Wang Geng and the others were bustling about for Zhou Yi. The drunken physician was unable to treat him. Zhou Yi’s life hung by a thread, and they had no choice but to send him out for treatment.
Wang Geng, with a dark face, issued orders. The long bridges at multiple checkpoints were lowered from both ends to connect into a path, allowing the carriage carrying Zhou Yi to gallop toward the mountain cave entrance.
As Chen Zhou walked back, he frowned in thought: after dealing with Zhou Yi, Wang Geng would surely investigate how he had gotten the arrow to commit suicide, and then he would target Wen Su. He had to find a way to cover this up and divert Wang Geng’s attention.
He had just returned upstairs when he saw Wang Geng striding over furiously. Shi Dang followed at his side, jogging to keep up, anxiously sweating profusely. Wang Geng charged straight into the room to grab his long blade. Chen Zhou had just thought of a plan and was about to act when someone ran in frantically shouting, “Star Lord! Something’s happened! Earth ghosts have died in the skypit!”
Chen Zhou, who was about to step forward, paused.
“What do you mean?” Wang Geng, with the long blade over his shoulder, glared ominously at the messenger. “What thing died? Say it again.”
The overseer who came to report was so frightened that he knelt on the ground, sweating profusely. He swallowed and said with a trembling voice, “It-it’s the earth ghosts resting by the sand river. At first, we thought they were just fighting as usual, but when we rushed over, we found… many earth ghosts had died.”
“They seemed to melt, their flesh rotting, bones breaking within the flesh, unlike before… This time, once they rotted, they stayed that way, without reviving.”
Standing to the side, Shi Dang shuddered, whispering, “How could earth ghosts possibly die… Ye Sheng didn’t even come.”
Wang Geng cursed with a dark face, shouldering his blade and striding out, moving with an urgency that others had never seen before.
*
At that moment, silent fear was spreading among the slaves in the skypit.
The slaves huddled together, lowering their heads, not daring to look at the pile of black flesh and shattered bones behind the overseers. Even the overseers, who were usually ferocious toward them, now had tense expressions.
No one had ever considered that Earth ghosts could die, not even the Earth ghosts themselves. Some earth ghosts didn’t even know they could die and revive before coming to the skypit.
The condition of Western Earth ghosts was completely incomparable to those from the south and the ice wastes.
Cheng Jingbai covered his throat, which had been strangled during the fight, and coughed softly. Li Bushuo raised his hand to wipe the blood from his forehead. Lin Xiao discreetly discarded his blood-stained clothing and looked up to see Wang Geng approaching with his long blade.
Finally seeing the one in charge of the skypit, the three of them inconspicuously observed Wang Geng, until they noticed Chen Zhou walking behind him. Cheng Jingbai couldn’t help but cough twice more, grabbing and tugging at Lin Xiao’s sleeve.
Lin Xiao glanced at him, indicating that he had seen.
Cheng Jingbai covered his face in an expression of pain. What was this situation? First discovering his senior sister in Nan Que, and now finding his senior brother in this hellish place, and both times he couldn’t notify Zhou Zixi.
If Zhou Zixi found out later, he might beat him again. Just thinking about it made Cheng Jingbai feel wronged.
They had seen Gu Qi impersonating Chen Zhou in Nan Que and knew about the missing senior brother of Beidou’s Yaoguang Academy, but they never imagined he would be here.
After his initial surprise, Cheng Jingbai suddenly understood. Being confined in this slave pit that devoured star power, making it impossible to use star vein power, it was no wonder Chen Zhou couldn’t seek help from outside and remained undiscovered.
Wang Geng approached aggressively. The overseers all bowed respectfully, addressing him as “Star Lord.”
He asked, “Where are the dead ones?”
The overseers stepped aside, pointing at the pile of flesh and bones, saying with trembling voices, “Here, seven died in total, both male and female.”
Wang Geng looked at the pile of bones. This was his first time seeing Earth ghosts truly die.
It wasn’t much different from normal human death.
In the end, just a pool of flesh, a pile of bones.
Except that earth ghosts had black bones, black and shiny, with a lustrous gleam—just a pile of beautifully colored bones.
Beyond that, there was nothing special.
Wang Geng stared expressionlessly for a while, then suddenly drew his blade and slashed at the pile of bones. There was a cracking sound as they shattered, frightening the nearby slaves into trembling.
Nothing special—these beasts’ bones were just like humans’, able to be cut, shattered, and like them, unable to revive, disappearing completely from this world.
Wang Geng furiously hacked at the pile of bones, veins bulging on his temples, venting all of tonight’s frustrations. Finally, gasping for breath, he turned his head to glare ferociously at the group of slaves:
“Who did it? Who killed them?! Step forward now!”
No one answered. The slaves were filled with fear, yet also secretly envious of the earth ghosts who had turned to rotten mud and dry bones.
“Not talking, eh?” Wang Geng raised his blade and brought it down, hacking wildly at the nearest earth ghost slave, shouting angrily amid the screams, “Who did it! You’re all playing dumb in front of me. If you don’t speak up, I’ll throw you all into the cremation pit! Let you taste what it means to wish for death!”
The slaves wailed that they truly didn’t know, that they had no idea what had happened. They thought it was just the usual fighting; how could they have known people would suddenly die? Like Wang Geng, many earth ghosts wanted to know how they could die.
Seeing the blade about to strike him, Cheng Jingbai discreetly pushed Lin Xiao, who stumbled forward. Lin Xiao glanced sideways at Cheng Jingbai.
Wang Geng’s long blade nearly struck Cheng Jingbai but stopped because of Lin Xiao’s sudden appearance. He watched as this slave fell to his knees with a thud, saying in a terrified voice, “I only remember them fighting, fighting very fiercely, and as they fought, they became like this…”
“They saw it too!” Lin Xiao frantically pointed at the overseers and others. “These people were fighting until they were covered in blood. We all stayed far away.”
In this world, when it came to acting skills, Cheng Jingbai admired only two people.
One was Sui Qiusan, who would sincerely act along with you. The other was Lin Xiao, who could become a different person at will whenever he wanted.
Wang Geng instinctively looked in the direction Lin Xiao pointed. The overseer who caught his eye felt his heart skip a beat and quickly nodded, saying, “Yes, yes, he’s right, Star Lord, we don’t know either… these few people were fighting amongst themselves, fighting until their scalps bled. It happens often, but they always revive, so we didn’t pay much attention. But today, as they fought, they just… this is probably just an accident, not that they can originally…”
“Shut up!” Wang Geng’s angry shout interrupted him. The overseer suddenly realized what he had almost said and immediately knelt in fear. “I have erred, master!”
Looking at the earth ghosts who had been killed by him and then continuously revived, Wang Geng gradually calmed down. Now was precisely the time when they needed manpower; he couldn’t cause chaos and let the earth ghosts die.
This matter probably required Ye Yuanqing to come and take a look.
But if Ye Yuanqing came, he would certainly face serious consequences. Wang Geng weighed in his mind whether to resolve this himself or notify Ye Yuanqing.
“Keep a close watch on them. No more fighting or disturbances! If anyone starts fighting again for no reason, throw them all into the cremation pit and skin them alive!” Wang Geng viciously kicked the kneeling overseer. “If another earth ghost dies and we can’t deliver enough goods, you’ll all go down with them!”
The overseers, hearing this, fell to their knees in fear, trembling as they watched Wang Geng walk away.
Once Wang Geng left, it was the overseers’ domain again. They wielded their clubs like fierce demons, disciplining the slaves.
Lin Xiao got up, but Cheng Jingbai pulled him back. He wiped his face and smiled at Cheng Jingbai, saying, “Do you want to die?”
Cheng Jingbai shook his head while hiding behind Li Bushuo.
Li Bushuo lowered his head in silence, ignoring the tumultuous undercurrents between his companions, focused only on complaining about how uncomfortable it was to live in the skypit without being able to cover his face.
*
Xu Liangzhi, standing guard at the entrance of the mountain cave, frowned with a cold expression. He had never expected such an event to occur. He listened to the sound of wheels rolling through the cave and looked up.
The guards came at full gallop. Fortunately, the cave had been excavated to be higher and wider, allowing multiple horses to gallop through without obstruction.
“Star Lord Xu!” The guard was anxious to pass this hot potato, shouting as he ran, “Arrow through the heart, severe blood loss, body temperature dropping—this boy is almost gone!”
Xu Liangzhi was extremely cautious. He examined Zhou Yi’s condition at the cave entrance, confirming he was critically injured without any ability to resist, before letting them out.
He stepped forward to open the carriage cage, using the healing technique of the Yin-Yang meridians to help stop the bleeding and stabilize him, while instructing the guard to continue driving the carriage: “Go to the merchant guild.”
As soon as Xu Liangzhi finished speaking, he was suddenly grabbed by the sleeve, instantly feeling a chill down his spine. Zhou Yi opened his eyes with difficulty and looked at him. Just as Xu Liangzhi was about to seal his star vein power, Zhou Yi’s fingertip moved:
Zhou Clan Divine Miracle Ability – Floating Life Exchange.
The physical conditions of the two men instantly changed. Xu Liangzhi felt an intense pain in his heart and collapsed backward, powerless, struggling to breathe, his eyes reddened, his face pale.
Floating Life Exchange had transferred Zhou Yi’s dying state to Xu Liangzhi, while Zhou Yi gained Xu Liangzhi’s healthy state. He immediately pushed his body technique meridian to the extreme, breaking out of the cage. Before the guards could even see his shadow, he had already fled at high speed, grabbing and putting on Xu Liangzhi’s clothes as he went.
Zhou Yi didn’t have much time. While moving at lightning speed, he used the Yin-Yang dual meridian healing technique to stop his bleeding. If he could survive when the Floating Life Exchange period ended, with star power flowing endlessly, he had never felt such joy being surrounded by star power.
He was finally able to leave that hellish place, escaping all suffering.
As long as he reached the city and let the merchant guild and Zhou clan know where he was, that he was still alive, there was hope. He would never return to that cursed place!
Zhou Yi ran forward like a madman, not daring to look back, not willing to look back. Yet on his way down the mountain, he was struck and pushed back by a powerful force of star power. A mouthful of blood welled up in his throat, but he gritted his teeth and endured, summoning all his power to charge again. A beam of sword light illuminated the night, slashing down in front of him.
As he raised his hand to block, he saw a figure standing in the forest at the foot of the mountain in the flickering night. Just one person, yet blocking all of Zhou Yi’s escape routes.
The time for Floating Life Exchange had run out.
Zhou Yi spat blood and fell to the ground, looking up at the stars in the night sky with near despair.
Ye Yuanqing raised his hand, and the long sword flew back into his grasp. He looked down at the person lying on the ground, barely breathing, and said softly, “Floating Life Exchange, rarely seen.”
There had been rumors that the Zhou clan’s ancestor from several hundred years ago was an eight-meridian boundary pilgrim, but the Zhou family kept a low profile and rarely spoke of this. People gradually forgot the rumor.
Zhou Yi struggled to look at the approaching Ye Yuanqing, his pale lips trembling as he said, “I beg…”
Before he could finish his plea for mercy, he had already lost consciousness.
*
In the Wufang Kingdom.
Xiang An’ge waited for a long time, but didn’t see Ming Li and Yuan Lu emerge from the formation. Feeling something amiss, he returned to the palace first.
When the substitute spirits saw him, they gathered around, gesturing to inform him that the girl inside had fallen.
Because Xiang An’ge had previously mentioned that this girl was fragile, the substitute spirits didn’t dare approach and touch her casually.
Xiang An’ge entered the room and went around the screen to see Qing Ying lying on the ground, unable to get up. Her gray eyes were dim, without focus, her palms pressed against the ground as she struggled to bend her fingers.
He stopped in front of Qing Ying’s hand and said, “Your senior sister won’t die, nor will she come to any harm.”
Qing Ying was very worried and anxious.
Xiang An’ge continued, “Before breaking the puppet technique, you can’t think about anything. Keep your mind calm. You can’t always be so anxious and do things that might damage your recovery.”
Qing Ying slowly lowered her head at his words.
Xiang An’ge thought to himself that his tone wasn’t even stern, and he was just stating facts, yet the girl’s reaction made it seem like he had scolded her harshly.
He thought for a moment, then said, “Your approach of trying to act more through your consciousness is correct, but it must be in moderation. It must be done under my supervision. You cannot act independently when I’m not around.”
Qing Ying didn’t respond.
Xiang An’ge said, “You can try to get up by yourself.”
“If you need my help, reach out your hand.”
After a moment of silence between them, Qing Ying’s hand that was pressed against the ground slowly raised. Xiang An’ge smiled at the sight, grasped her hand, and bent down to lift her.
*
Not long after Xiang An’ge returned, the ice covering the water surface cracked, and the star lines spread over the water were burned away by raging flames.
When the wind and waves calmed, the two missing people reappeared on the water’s surface.
Yuan Lu, abandoning his careless demeanor, seriously examined the person across from him. “I didn’t know you could set up formations so quickly.”
Ming Li thought to herself that it was because she had a junior brother who could set up formations even faster.
Yuan Lu withdrew his star power that had been fixed on Ming Li, walked to the black horse, and took the reins. When he turned back to look at Ming Li, his face was once again full of a bright smile. “Aren’t you in a hurry? Where are you going? Want me to accompany you for a while?”
Ming Li walked toward the wooden boat waiting nearby, not looking back as she said, “You’ve already accompanied me to the six-meridian boundary. Giving me a horse on top of that wouldn’t be appropriate.”
The smile on Yuan Lu’s face froze, gradually turning into a teeth-gritting expression: “This trip has been truly unprofitable for me.”
Ming Li looked at him from the boat.
Yuan Lu said, “I just couldn’t bear to kill you.”
Ming Li knew he wouldn’t attack again. She shook her head and said, “So oily.”
Yuan Lu smiled insincerely: “You’re a little girl now. What’s wrong with me, sweet-talking a little girl?”
Ming Li ignored him further, using her spirit technique to propel the wooden boat, which disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Yuan Lu watched as the wooden boat gradually vanished from view, still feeling unsettled. Finally, he sighed and walked leisurely across the water surface, muttering to himself, “You’re going west, so I’ll go to Nan Que to release Cui Yaocen. She’ll come here looking for her brother. Then I’ll go to Beidou… Heh, let’s see which side you choose then.”