People walk human paths; when meeting ghosts, tread ghost roads.

On the ghost road Yan Sanhe chose, they didn’t encounter a single ghost, but they saw a heap of graves, comparable to the nuns’ cemetery behind Water Moon Nunnery.

Whether it was having a spirit medium beside them or gaining experience from one “coffin examination” after another, even Young Lord Pei and his servants felt that using a bunch of grave mounds to fake a ghost road—damn it, was Old Master Tang looking down on someone?

Halfway along, the trees on both sides suddenly thinned considerably. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, and the ghostly atmosphere vanished at once.

Young Lord Pei strongly expressed dissatisfaction. “That’s it?”

Huang Qi followed closely. “How perfunctory.”

Xie Zhifei turned to glance at Young Lord Pei, who said sheepishly, “Fifty, don’t you think this ghost road was made rather carelessly?”

“Right!”

Huang Qi continued following. “We didn’t even encounter a single ghost shadow.”

Xie Fifty: “…” What kind of nonsense were these two spouting?

Criticize as he might, Third Master was left uncertain by their words. “Yan Sanhe, what’s the situation now?”

Yan Sanhe was about to answer when Zhu Qing, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

Young Lord Pei swooshed behind Yan Sanhe, and Huang Qi swooshed behind Young Lord Pei, their speed remarkably synchronized.

Xie Fifty looked at these two and felt exhausted. “Zhu Qing, what is it?”

Zhu Qing moved aside. “Third Master, Miss Yan, look.”

At the end of the road stood a person with hands behind his back. The man was around forty, wearing gray robes, extremely thin, staring at them with cold eyes.

Young Lord Pei stuck half his head out from behind Yan Sanhe. “Is he, is he… human or ghost?”

Yan Sanhe pointed at the shadow on the ground.

So it’s a person!

Young Lord Pei suddenly regained his威风. “Come, let’s go ask for directions.”

Yan Sanhe nodded.

Xie Zhifei frowned with some disgust.

Look at his sister—composed and steady, neither anxious nor flustered, with the bearing of remaining unshaken even if Mount Tai collapsed before her.

Then look at Pei Mingting…

Looked presentable enough, dressed like a peacock, but no matter how you looked at him, he was an embroidered pillow stuffed with straw—not good enough for her.

Young Lord Pei had no idea his image in his good brother’s heart kept shifting from virtuous son-in-law to worthless straw. With a big heart, he leaned close to Xie Zhifei’s ear and asked:

“Did I perform well along the way?”

Xie Fifty suppressed his disgust and replied, “Mm, the world is vast, great things await.”

Young Lord Pei: “…”

Soon, the six reached the man.

Zhu Qing cupped his fists in salute. “How should we address this gentleman?”

The gray-robed man kept a cold face. “Congratulations to the six of you. You’ve passed the first test.”

That counts as passing?

The six looked at each other in disbelief.

The gray-robed man stepped back and drew a soft sword from his waist. “The next test is me.”

A fight?

Li Buyan was delighted. Fighting was her favorite thing. She’d been worried about not having exercised in so long—her whole body itched.

“I’ll do it!”

The gray-robed man looked her up and down. “You can fight?”

Li Buyan also drew her soft sword from her waist and smiled. “Of course I can!”

Gray-robed man: “Besides you, who else can fight?”

Li Buyan wasn’t pleased. “What, looking down on women fighting?”

The gray-robed man continued asking, “Who else can fight?”

“I can fight!” Zhu Qing stepped forward and puffed out his chest.

The gray-robed man also looked him up and down. “Besides you, who else?”

What does he mean?

Does he have to pick someone handsome to fight?

Huang Qi pushed Zhu Qing aside. “Cut the crap. I’ll fight you.”

The gray-robed man still looked Huang Qi up and down. “Among the remaining three, who else can fight?”

The six people: “…”

What the hell is wrong with this man?

The gray-robed man sneered. “I’ll count to three. One… two…”

“I can manage a few moves.”

Under pressure, Xie Zhifei had to speak. “Those two—one can’t carry a load on his shoulders, the other can’t lift a basket with his hands.”

Young Lord Pei urgently glanced at Xie Zhifei: Are you crazy? What if he really comes after you?

Xie Zhifei made no response and fake-smiled. “Elder brother, do you need me to exchange a few moves with you?”

The gray-robed man stepped back several more paces and made a feint with his sword. “No need. The four of you—attack together!”

What?

What?

What?

The six couldn’t help but size up this gray-robed man again.

Ordinary appearance, ordinary sword, and the feint he’d just made was also ordinary.

How could such an ordinary person have the guts to challenge four at once?

Li Buyan and Zhu Qing, the two with the best kung fu, silently met each other’s eyes and became secretly vigilant.

As they say, there’s no first in literature, no second in martial arts. Since this person dared to boast about taking on four opponents, he must have matching ability.

In other words, this person who seemed completely ordinary might be a reclusive master.

“You two…”

The gray-robed man turned to look at Yan Sanhe and Pei Xiao. “See that low table under the tree?”

Everyone looked up.

Indeed, there was a low table under the tree with a sheet of paper, a brush, and an inkstone on it.

“That paper has a thousand squares where you can write a thousand characters. Pick whichever of you has better calligraphy and fill in all the squares.”

The gray-robed man looked at the six unfortunate, pitiful sheep like a sheepdog. “When you finish filling them, I’ll lower my sword.”

Pei Xiao: “Just fill them in?”

The gray-robed man gave Pei Xiao a “are you stupid?” expression.

Yan Sanhe pressed, “What’s the standard?”

Gray-robed man: “The standard is that Old Master Tang finds them acceptable. If you don’t meet this standard, don’t bother with the third test—just scram!”

Yan Sanhe had a bad feeling. “Will the fighting injure people?”

The gray-robed man sneered. “Weapons have no eyes. Life and death are determined by fate.”

Cold sweat immediately broke out on Yan Sanhe.

Old Master Tang was Tang Qiling’s student and Tang Zhiwei’s senior martial brother. If Tang Zhiwei’s slender gold script calligraphy was already breathtaking, then the standard for Old Master Tang to find acceptable would definitely not be low.

Logically speaking, her calligraphy was good—more than good enough to meet Old Master Tang’s standards. But while she wrote here, others would be fighting for their lives over there.

Among those fighting were her best friend, someone she secretly cared about in her heart, and companions who had faced life and death with her through wind and rain.

Never mind anyone getting injured, disabled, or killed—even a cry of alarm or a sigh would throw her mental state into chaos.

And what calligraphy most feared was a chaotic mind.

Xie Zhifei obviously thought of this point too and cupped his fists. “Brother, there’s no need to be so extreme, right? Can we discuss changing to something else?”

“Something else?”

The gray-robed man pointed at the road behind them, meaning: either pass the test or scram.

Good heavens, they were being forced into a corner!

Yan Sanhe: “Can we discuss this amongst ourselves?”

“Half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”

Having spoken, the gray-robed man swept his robe and sat cross-legged on the ground, his entire person like a monk entering meditation.

Seeing this movement, Zhu Qing’s heart began pounding wildly.

No wonder earlier he hadn’t heard anyone’s breathing from several zhang away—this person’s breathing had already merged with heaven and earth.

A true peerless master.