This sudden turn of events was something even Fang Wen had never anticipated.
Mainly, with his present breadth of knowledge, it had never once crossed his mind that there existed martial arts capable of turning someone invisible.
Moreover, Ye Feihua turned out to be this very maidservant.
He had traveled with her all this way, even carrying her personally to Autumn Moon Nunnery so she could help treat Zuo Qingshuang.
Yet he had never noticed in the slightest that she possessed such profound martial arts.
This Feihua Guidance was truly formidable!
The scene also sounded an alarm bell in Fang Wen's mind. This world was not any martial arts realm he was familiar with.
Capable masters here were countless. Even though he had three divine arts in his repertoire, he could never afford to underestimate anyone.
*I still need to be cautious. I can't be haughty and insolent like Murong Qingchen.*
Indeed, Murong Qingchen was tasting bitter medicine at this very moment.
As the Immortal among the Three Immortals, Murong Qingchen's martial arts were shockingly high; Wu Changzai was nowhere near his match.
Even with Ye Feihua added into the fray, he would have had nothing to fear.
Yet Ye Feihua's underhanded strike had hit him squarely on his soft underbelly.
The Jingmen acupoint happened to be a flaw within his cultivation of Heaven and Earth Flow Together as Me. Once struck there, his internal force would leak outward in an unending stream.
Murong Qingchen's face darkened abruptly. Letting out a soft shout, he pressed downward with his free left palm.
Wu Changzai felt Murong Qingchen's palm force—which had just begun to decline—suddenly surge from somewhere with a dreadful new power.
This force crushed all before it like dry twigs, seeming to harmonize with heaven and earth itself.
Unable to resist any longer, Wu Changzai let out a muffled grunt and was sent hurtling backward.
The instant he repelled Wu Changzai, Murong Qingchen swung his right arm downward in a fluid motion. Ye Feihua had no desire to clash with him head-on and tried to withdraw her finger and retreat. Yet before her finger was fully pulled back, Murong Qingchen's palm strike was already right in front of her.
With no other choice, she was forced to trade a blow with him.
This clash ended in a draw. While Murong Qingchen let out a muffled grunt and stumbled back three steps, Ye Feihua also staggered back in succession, shaking her pair of small hands repeatedly. "Impressive, truly impressive!
"That finger strike of mine just drained at least half your cultivation, yet you still have tricks like this up your sleeve.
"As expected—the Three Immortals, Two Kings, and One Madman of the City are none of them easy prey.
"You are worthy of your title as the Immortal."
Murong Qingchen ignored her, merely furrowing his brows as he silently regulated his inner breath.
Ye Feihua's words were somewhat alarmist. Her finger strike had indeed dispelled nearly half of Murong Qingchen's cultivation, but to say it had crippled him was an exaggeration.
It was only that cultivating it back would take at least a month's time.
Murong Qingchen's complexion was exceedingly grim at the moment, not because of his injury, but because Ye Feihua had stepped in to help Wu Changzai at such a juncture.
His gaze swept back and forth between the two of them. "Why are the two of you in league with each other?"
Wu Changzai laughed heartily, scrambling up from the ground. Much of the gloom on his face had dissipated by now.
He raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Walking up to the stone pedestal, he reached out and picked up the triangular stone.
He cradled it in his hands as though it were the rarest treasure, examining it closely.
"Hey! Wu Changzai, we had a deal. That Seven-String Ancient Chapter is mine!" Ye Feihua suddenly called out.
Wu Changzai smiled at her words. "I'm merely having a look. Why must you be so stingy?
"I promised it to you; would an old man like me break his word?"
"Good that you know. Hand it over!"
Wu Changzai looked at the Seven-String Ancient Chapter with a flicker of reluctance on his face. After a brief hesitation, he flicked his wrist and tossed it toward Ye Feihua.
Ye Feihua reached out to catch it, only for the stone to take an abrupt turn in midair.
Nearly everyone present looked toward the stone at the same time and watched as it landed, squarely and steadily, into the hand of Fang Wen, who was standing at the doorway of the stone chamber.
In an instant, Wu Changzai's expression changed drastically. "Who are you? When did you arrive?"
Ye Feihua's pupils contracted sharply as well, her expression turning complicated.
Murong Qingchen blurted out instinctively, "City Lord Wu?"
Fang Wen: "..."
*This is already the second time.*
*Does this Murong Qingchen have some habit of calling everyone City Lord Wu the moment he sees them?*
He shook his head. "Senior Murong, you've mistaken me for someone else again."
"...So it's you." Murong Qingchen sighed, though whether in disappointment or relief was hard to tell.
Fang Wen examined the stone in his hand, somewhat curious. "This is the Seven-String Ancient Chapter?
"Doesn't seem like anything special. Just a piece of stone."
"Since it's just a useless stone, why don't you—Brother Fang—give it to me?" Ye Feihua suddenly offered Fang Wen an innocent, harmless smile.
Fang Wen smiled back at her. "I previously heard that the Feihua Guidance of Jinghua Pavilion's Master Ye was a remarkable art, but I didn't think much of it.
"Seeing it today, however, proves my own ignorance and that I looked down on the world's talents.
"Still, for the illustrious Jinghua Pavilion Master to demean herself so greatly along the way, we truly neglected you."
"Brother Fang, don't tease me. How could my meager Feihua Guidance ever catch your eye?"
Ye Feihua smiled and said, "If Brother Fang likes it, how about I teach you the Feihua Guidance later? So long as you give me this Seven-String Ancient Chapter—"
Fang Wen shook his head. "That won't do. I came here tonight for this very item. How could I give it away?"
"...Brother Fang, that's not what you said before. You told me you weren't interested in this."
"I wasn't interested before, but now, I've changed my mind."
As Fang Wen spoke, he tucked the Seven-String Ancient Chapter into his robe, then turned his gaze back to Ye Feihua. "However, there is one thing I don't understand. I heard from Bai Liuxian and the others that Wu Lingxiao made a deal with Jinghua Pavilion, asking you to dispatch physicians to Feixue City to heal him.
"Why did the healers sent to save a life suddenly turn into assassins taking it?"
"Hahahahaha!"
Before Ye Feihua could speak, Wu Changzai suddenly burst out laughing from the side. "What does that have to do with you?"
"Just curious."
Fang Wen was genuinely curious.
By this point, he had pieced together the broad outline of the matter; only a few critical points remained murky.
Since all the key players were right in front of him, he might as well ask directly and get to the bottom of it.
"A fine 'just curious'—"
A smirk curled onto Wu Changzai's lips. "Haven't you ever heard the saying?"
"What saying?" Fang Wen asked with an inquisitive face.
"Curiosity can get you killed!!"
The moment the words left his mouth, he was about to shift his footwork when a gale slammed into his face. Stunned, he was seized with furious outrage.
Fang Wen had actually turned the tables and thrust a palm strike right in front of him!?
*This isn't how the script is supposed to go!*
*Normally, shouldn't I lash out in anger and show him what curiosity costs?*
*Even if he's skilled, shouldn't he take a hit from me first?*
*How did this brat strike first?*
Fortunately, Wu Changzai had already been channeling true qi with the intent to attack. Now that Fang Wen had struck preemptively, he could only thrust his palm upward, hoisting his hand to prop up the heavens as he met Fang Wen's Vajra Throws the Pagoda head-on!
*Boom!!!*
A muffled blast detonated within the stone chamber.
Wu Changzai felt a terrifying force crash down from above. Beneath his feet, the stone slabs cracked and shattered with crisp crunches.
His eyes widened in shock. The sheer density and boundlessness of the man's palm force was impossible to withstand.
Even Murong Qingchen had not pressured him to this extent moments ago. Could this person's palm force be even greater than Murong Qingchen's?
Just who on earth was he?
Yet Wu Changzai was no ordinary figure either.
He was, after all, the previous generation's City Lord of Feixue City.
Although he had always been treated as a cautionary tale throughout Feixue City's three generations, his life had weathered many storms, and his foundation was far from ordinary.
Thus, he did not crumble on contact. On the surface, the two remained locked in a temporary stalemate. Wu Changzai seized the chance to roar, "Ye Feihua, are you still not going to strike!?"
To his disbelief, Ye Feihua merely rolled her eyes. "For a single Seven-String Ancient Chapter, just how many times do you expect me to fight?
"Murong Qingchen was one thing, but this one in front of us—forget one chapter, even if you had another, it wouldn't be enough to make me lift a finger against him."
Wu Changzai froze, never imagining that Ye Feihua would prove useless at the critical moment.
What he did not know was that Ye Feihua had traveled alongside Fang Wen all this way and had seen his martial prowess with her own eyes.
Especially his battle against Cao Jiuyin—
Although Cao Jiuyin had taken a blade from a Jinghua Pavilion expert beforehand and had not yet healed, his martial skills had not been diminished in the slightest.
Yet against Fang Wen, it took no more than two palm strikes for the Flesh King, one of the Four Ghost Kings of the Hundred Ghosts Hall, to die on the spot.
Ye Feihua was not so much terrified of such an expert as she was unwilling to cross him recklessly.
Especially when she had already offended Murong Qingchen.
Furthermore, from observing Fang Wen throughout their journey, she found him very intriguing.
Possessing matchless martial arts and a slightly peculiar temperament, he valued promises and kept his word, having no desire for fame in the jianghu, yet enjoying working as a guard.
In the jianghu, anyone could run into hard times.
Ye Feihua had a feeling that someone like Fang Wen might become a thick, sturdy lifeline if she ever found herself in desperate straits.
Therefore, no matter how great the temptation of the Seven-String Ancient Chapter, she had no intention of moving against Fang Wen.
Wu Changzai could not fathom the reasoning behind it; he only felt that Fang Wen's true qi was bottomless, and the weight pressing down on him grew heavier and heavier.
He clenched his teeth, blood trickling from the corner of his lips.
Just as he believed his death was certain, he heard Fang Wen speak: "You really do have some skill. You're not weaker than that Shangguan Ying by the entrance."
"..."
Wu Changzai was utterly bewildered. In an exchange of this magnitude, speaking that single shout earlier had already been a huge gamble on his part. What was Fang Wen doing now?
Was he chatting casually while competing in internal energy?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Fang Wen shoved his palm slightly downward. The bluestone floor, already unable to bear the terrifying force, was ground entirely into powder, reaching the dirt beneath the slabs.
What allowed him to break through such thick stone was Fang Wen's force coursing through Wu Changzai's entire body, giving him an unwanted hand.
Then, before everyone's eyes, Wu Changzai was pressed into the ground bit by bit.
First his feet, then his shins, sinking past his knees, and finally up to his waist—only after driving more than half of Wu Changzai's body into the ground did Fang Wen pull his palm back.
He left behind only a dazed Wu Changzai, who looked left and right at his current predicament.
Beside the fury in his heart, he was deeply baffled.
*Why did he plant me here?*
Fang Wen squatted down, looked him over, and gave a light chuckle. "I'm a naturally curious person. So, could you explain just what is going on here?"
After such a bizarre ordeal, Wu Changzai was thoroughly disoriented.
He could not help asking, "What?"
"...How did the healers from Jinghua Pavilion turn into assassins?"
Fang Wen said helplessly, "Memory really does fade with age."
"..."
Wu Changzai ground his teeth. Placing both hands against the ground, he struggled to pull himself up out of the earth.
Fang Wen's palm suddenly snapped forward, halting right before Wu Changzai's face.
The palm stopped barely three inches from the tip of his nose, yet the whistling gale blew his white hair into disarray, causing fine beads of sweat to break out across his brow.
Then Fang Wen spoke: "I'm rather timid by nature, so I advise you to speak to me just like this. If you dare jump out, I will most likely send you to the afterlife with a single palm."
Wu Changzai felt his thoughts scramble into chaos. *This man claims to be timid?*
*Where on earth is he timid? He is audaciously brazen to the extreme!*
Yet, looking at his current state and then at Fang Wen before him, his spirit finally broke. "It is very simple. If Wu Lingxiao could do business with Jinghua Pavilion, so could I.
"It's just that while he wanted Jinghua Pavilion to heal and save him, I asked Jinghua Pavilion to send people to kill him."
In truth, once Ye Feihua was seen joining forces with him, this could already be deduced.
After all, it was Ye Feihua's subordinates who had assassinated Wu Lingxiao.
For the master of Jinghua Pavilion to join Wu Changzai in taking on Murong Qingchen would make no sense without some explanation behind it.
Even so, hearing Wu Changzai say it aloud still felt hard to believe.
"What did I just hear? The one who wanted Wu Lingxiao dead... was actually his own father?"
A voice suddenly drifted from the doorway. It was Chen Yan, leading his little donkey.
Yet no one had the spare attention for him. Murong Qingchen stared at Wu Changzai in disbelief. "Even a vicious tiger does not devour its cubs. Just why... why did you do this?"
"That has nothing to do with any of you."
Wu Changzai sneered, looking toward Fang Wen. "I am no match for you. Kill me if you wish, but as for the reason, don't even dream of learning it. I will never say a word."
Fang Wen nodded, then turned to Ye Feihua. "Then could Pavilion Master Ye explain why you went against the terms of the transaction and switched clients?"
Ye Feihua shrugged. "Because what Wu Lingxiao said wasn't necessarily true."
"What makes you say that?"
"Simple enough. The claim that he was gravely injured was suspicious from the start," Ye Feihua said. "In fact, I suspected he wasn't injured at all, and that everything unfolding now was deliberately orchestrated by him.
"As for his purpose, I didn't know at first. But once Wu Changzai approached me, I guessed the general idea.
"Feixue City is far from as peaceful as it looks.
"Wouldn't you say so, Brother Fang?"
Fang Wen's mouth twitched. Though Ye Feihua looked like a young maidservant right now, she possessed Feihua Guidance and could assume thousands of forms. Who knew what her true appearance was?
What if she was actually some crude, scruffy man, calling him 'Brother Fang' with every breath?
The mere thought made Fang Wen feel disgusted.
He immediately waved his hand. "Pavilion Master Ye, you are a senior in the jianghu. I cannot possibly accept being called 'Brother Fang.'"
He paused briefly before continuing, "Still, since you had such concerns, did you never consider that if he truly wasn't injured, then all of this was Wu Lingxiao's scheme?
"By joining forces with Wu Changzai, weren't you afraid of the thunderous wrath of Feixue City's Lord?"
"Just testing the waters, that's all," Ye Feihua said nonchalantly. "The Seven-String Ancient Chapter holds an immense secret. If I could get my hands on it, it might grant me an extraordinary opportunity.
"If Wu Lingxiao truly was dying of severe wounds, sending him on his way and claiming the item would leave everyone happy.
"Conversely, if all of this really was Wu Lingxiao's setup, the worst I'd have to do is turn and run. I doubt he'd be able to catch me."
If anyone else had said this, Fang Wen might have doubted them, but coming from Ye Feihua, the words were utterly convincing.
Not only could she assume countless appearances, but her ability to conceal her tracks and aura was extraordinary.
Otherwise, with Fang Wen's martial arts, how could he have failed to notice for so long that she possessed such exceptional skills?
Fang Wen thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Still, if I remember correctly, Wu Lingxiao had already agreed to give you the Seven-String Ancient Chapter as payment if you sent people to treat his wounds. Why go through all the extra trouble?"
"Brother Fang, where in this jianghu do you find so many saints?
"Just because Wu Lingxiao said it, was I supposed to believe him?"
Ye Feihua said indifferently, "What kind of man is Wu Lingxiao?
"Among the Three Immortals, Two Kings, and One Madman of the City, which one is a simple character?
"Never mind that he has no reputation for keeping his word like pure gold; even if he did, I wouldn't dare believe it.
"What if he handed the Seven-String Ancient Chapter to me, and then broke my legs and told me I could never leave Feixue City for the rest of my life?
"Or simply killed me outright?
"That way, he would have fulfilled his promise, yet Feixue City would never have lost the Seven-String Ancient Chapter.
"Taking a step back, even if he truly was gravely injured and I sent people to heal him, what could I have done if he simply refused to hand it over?
"If I came, I might never leave.
"If I didn't come—and he claimed the Seven-String Ancient Chapter was of paramount importance and demanded I retrieve it in person—tell me, Brother Fang, would I come, or wouldn't I?"
These few simple possibilities all brimmed with immense danger.
Fang Wen chuckled, finding that her words actually made a great deal of sense. "But didn't you say he wouldn't necessarily be able to stop you if you wanted to run?"
"Yes, that's if I only wanted to run. But if I wanted to seize the Seven-String Ancient Chapter from his hands, clashing with him would be unavoidable. By then, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the chance to escape at all."
Chapter 93