Xu Ziling quietly left town, and when he returned, he was already wearing Yue Shan attire and appearance, and swaggered back toward the inn.

When he was sitting down and drinking his hot tea, You Niaojuan entered in through the window; he complained, “Where were you these past few days?”

Xu Ziling did not even give him half a gaze; he only snorted coldly.

You Niaojuan sat down next to him; lowering his voice and suppressing his anger, he said, “It’s not that I am blaming you, Senior, it’s just that the past few days the situation in Chang’an is tense, while I went everywhere to look for you, Senior, but could not find you, so in my heart I was a bit anxious, that’s all!”

Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “You knew Shi Zhixuan wanted to kill me.”

Displeased, You Niaojuan said, “Xiaodi already told you he wants to kill you; could it be that only this moment you, Laoge, believe that I am not lying to you?”

Inwardly Xu Ziling was amused; he actually wanted to see You Niaojuan more than You Niaojuan wanted to see him. Now that You Niaojuan voluntarily dropping by like this, naturally it was the best. Otherwise he would have to use the secret method to contact him.

Finally Xu Ziling turned around to face this big crafty ghost You Niaojuan, who was putting on an act like he was loyal and sincere – and spoke slowly, “I have had a battle against Shi Zhixuan.”

“What?” You Niaojuan blurted out.

Xu Ziling’s pair of eyes emitted deep murderous intent, but the tone of his voice remained tranquil; he said, “He intercepted me at the Yue Ma Bridge, thinking that I, ‘Ba Dao’ Yue Shan was still as useless as that year when I was defeated under Song Que’s hands. Humph! That fact proved that he practically does not have the qualifications to kill me, Yue Shan, at all.”

Stammering, You Niaojuan said, “You really fought Shi Zhixuan?”

Only by listening to the tone of his voice, he knew that he was extremely wary toward Shi Zhixuan. Xu Ziling smiled and said, “When did you ever hear me, Yue Shan, telling a lie? Shi Zhixuan thinks so highly of me, I, Yue Shan, definitely must reciprocate.”

You Niaojuan calmed down his spirit, he said, “LaoGe’s Huan Ri Da Fa is really growing more and more formidable. From the bat cave, Chengdu, and now in Chang’an, each time more formidable than the last time. Now even Xie Wang cannot do anything to you.”

Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “Less nonsense. You say I ought to return Shi Zhixuan’s compliment?”

With an evil grin You Niaojuan said, “Having enmity but not avenging it is not the conduct of a gentleman at all. A gentleman ought to take revenge. Let alone I, You Niaojuan, have never been a gentleman. It’s just that I really don’t know in which dog hole Shi Zhixuan is hiding. I’m afraid even An Long would not know.”

“Never mind!” Xu Ziling said, “I’ll take An Long first as a sacrificial offering!”

Stunned, You Niaojuan stuttered, “This … hey! This …”

“You may go,” Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “Hereby our cooperation will be two segments with a single cut.”

Smiling apologetically, You Niaojuan said, “You, Senior want to kill An Long, you kill An Long then! There is no need to lose your temper like this.”

The refined light in Xu Ziling’s pair of eyes flashed, he looked straight into You Niaojuan’s vicious eyeballs and said, “I did not lose my temper at all; rather, I’ve seen through that you are not a person to do big things, you are afraid of the head, terrified of the tail, how could you accomplish anything? Currently the situation is extremely clear; within the demonic school, you have become lone-momentum, weak-power. Were it not for Zhao Deyan seeing there is still something of value in you to be exploited, you have been slaughtered early on by either Shi Zhixuan or Zhu Yuyan. But unless you go as far away as possible, this matter will happen sooner or later.”

Hearing his remark, You Niaojuan was dumbstruck and unable to reply. He was right. Otherwise, You Niaojuan would not have to come to seek cooperation from Yue Shan, who was well known for being difficult to get along with; even more, he had to suffer enough from Yue Shan’s bird temper.

Finished playing with the hard, now Xu Ziling turned to soft. His voice softened as he sighed and said, “You clearly know why I am willing to help you. If you think that your eloquence could persuade me, or perhaps that I trust your personal character, then you are gravely mistaken.”

Embarrassed, You Niaojuan asked, “So there’s a special reason?”

A hint of strange smile escaped from the corner of Xu Ziling’s mouth; he said, “Because I want to cultivate another Xie Di [demonic emperor].”

You Niaojuan was shaken; he revealed an unbelieving expression.

Xu Ziling sighed again and said, “In order to master the Huan Ri Da Fa, I have overdrawn myself very badly. Very soon I will be ninety! Time is limited. Before I die, I am hoping to have another stake-it-all, disregarding-victory-or-defeat battle against Song Que. If you could be Xie Di, you could act on my, Yue Shan’s behalf to collect some old debt from the people that I detest the most. I, Yue Shan, have always been a man who, kindness must be repaid, enmity must be avenged.”

You Niaojuan spoke heavily, “Is Yue Lao referring to Zhu Yuyan?”

Xu Ziling muttered to himself irresolutely for half a day before asserting, “Now let’s settle it in one word; are you willing to disregard everything, by hook or by crook, to obtain the Sheng Sheli?”

His speech aroused the vicious nature inside You Niaojuan. He nodded and said, “LaoGe has completely seen through my, You Niaojuan’s situation. I will either grab the Sheng Sheli in my hands, or find a mountain cave and hide forever, never to come back out. There is no third option.”

And then he softly said, “It’s not that I am scared of Shi Zhixuan, but under current circumstances, what good will it bring us by getting rid of An Long? In that kind of situation, it will be very difficult for Zhao Deyan to speak to me.”

Xu Ziling calmly said, “Supposing we could frame the killing of An Long to Zhu Yuyan, do you think it will be worthwhile?”

You Niaojuan’s pair of vicious eyes lit up immediately. He said, “That is of course another matter altogether. But Shi Zhixuan is definitely not easy to be deceived. If he examined the injury, he would immediately know that it was not from Zhu Yuyan’s hands.”

“Can’t we make An Long disappear forever?” Xu Ziling asked.

Slapping his forehead, You Niaojuan nodded and said, “I am really stupid!”

And then his excitement rose as he said, “This kind of trick, no one is more expert than me. If we could make Zhu Yuyan and Shi Zhixuan ghost fighting ghost, naturally it would be most beneficial to us. Yue LaoGe, you are really formidable.”

“Where is An Pangzi now?” Xu Ziling asked.

Radiant with delight, You Niaojuan said, “This is even more marvelous. An Pangzi’s hiding place, only the people from Zhu Yuyan and Zhao Deyan, two sides, know. Shi Zhixuan would never suspect Zhao Deyan, but he never trust Zhu Yuyan.”

“Will he suspect you?” Xu Ziling asked.

You Niaojuan replied, “After I got to Chang’an, I had never been in contact with An Pangzi. I know where he is hiding, but I investigated it by relying on my own skill.”

“That is the best,” Xu Ziling replied, “Any news about those two boys?”

You Niaojuan said, “These two boys really possess great magical power; the gods did not know the ghosts did not perceive, they stole into Chang’an. But this morning that kid Kou Zhong nearly fell into the ambush; fortunately it was Ke Dazhi who was in charge of the general situation and he deliberately let him go, so that he did not suffer any mishaps.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling was shivering inwardly. If Ke Dazhi really deliberately let Kou Zhong off, and Kou Zhong unexpectedly could not see it, then they had to reevaluate their assessment on Ke Dazhi.

Distressed, You Niaojuan said, “The strange thing is, what are those two boys waiting for? Why haven’t they unearthed the hidden treasure yet?”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling was shocked. But naturally on the surface he did not show anything. He asked in heavy voice, “Do you know their hiding place?”

You Niaojuan replied, “Yue LaoGe is willing to show such support on me, Niaojuan does not dare to conceal anything. Our school has a set of gongfa [reminder: skill (or power) method, as long as Xie Di Sheli is within a hundred li from us, we would sense it. LaoGe naturally would ask, wouldn’t it be possible for Xiaodi to rely on this method to find the hidden treasure location? It’s just too bad that how could Lu Miaozi, that crafty ghost, make things easy for me? I don’t know how he did it, but he made it difficult for me to rely on this gongfa to find the Relics location.”

Although Xu Ziling had one less thing to worry, there was another thing that made him worry. Frowning, he said, “Among your Shidi, Shimei of the same school, who else knew this gongfa? That day in the Xie Di Miao [demonic emperor temple], you guys did not seem to know that Qingxuan’s yellow crystal ball was a fake.”

With an evil grin You Niaojuan said, “Whether the crystal ball was real or fake, how could it deceive me? But who my target was, Yue LaoGe ought to know clearly more than any other people. Less incense burners, less ghosts, how could they overcome me, You Niaojuan?”

Recalling Jin Huanzhen, who was lying on Yang Xuyan’s boat with her acupoint sealed, Xu Ziling secretly paid close attention to the tone of You Niaojuan’s voice; it did seem that he was the only one understood this set of gongfa. But the stake was high; he must confirm it from You Niaojuan’s mouth. Otherwise, even if they unearthed the hidden treasure, it would still be difficult to escape the bad luck of Shi Zhixuan or Yang Xuyan intercepting them. He said, “Are you the only one with this ability? You must tell me clearly.”

Smiling wryly, You Niaojuan said, “Honestly, even I do not dare to be certain. But Ding Jiuzhong was killed by you, LaoGe. Zhou Laotan and Jin Huanzhen were heavily injured by Xiaodi; life or death are not on the cards. We shouldn’t be worried about them.”

Xu Ziling was dying to ask him how this gongfa work, but was afraid to arouse his suspicion; without any better option he suppressed this desire.

You Niaojuan suddenly asked, “How’s the relationship between Yue LaoGe and Li Yuan now?”

Xu Ziling knew that in the end You Niaojuan could not help bringing up this matter to him; smiling, he said, “Li Yuan is a formidable chess piece that I am using to deal with Shi Zhixuan. Do you understand?”

You Niaojuan did not dare to pursue this matter; obviously he did not care too much about this matter either. To him, the most important thing was to obtain the Demonic Emperor Relics; other things, even if the sky collapsed, he simply did not have the time to care about.

Xu Ziling asked, “Other than me, is there anyone else who knows that you understand this set of gongfa?”

You Niaojuan replied, “This is our school’s secret, we certainly will not reveal this information to anybody else.”

Xu Ziling did not think so; take Jin Huanzhen for example, if she knew that she had no hope of obtaining the Demonic Emperor Relics, because she hated You Niaojuan to the bones, she might reveal to Yang Xuyan that You Niaojuan had this kind of ability. And then Yang Xuyan only needed to keep a close watch on You Niaojuan, and he would be able to find the Xie Di Sheli.

Besides, Zhou Laotan might be lurking nearby, which would make the situation even more complicated.

“All right!” Xu Ziling said, “Let’s set others thing aside for now, we need to look into how to deal with An Pangzi first.”

You Niaojuan’s pair of eyes shot excited look; he nodded his head and said, “Not even in his dream would An Long think that there are the two of us scheming against him behind his back. This time he will be dead for sure!”

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong and Chang He went to buy the gift that Li Yuanji wanted to send to Shang Xiufang. He randomly fabricated an excuse to return to the Sha Mansion first, and made appointment that Chang He would come to the Sha Mansion later to find him, and then together they would deliver the gift to the King of Qi Mansion.

When he reached the Sha Mansion, the guests paying the New Year call have already dispersed, the Old Master has returned to his room to rest. Although the Sha Mansion was still brimming with the holiday atmosphere, it was not like before, where it was so clamorous and so busy that everybody’s head was spinning.

The First Young Master Sha Chengjiu and the Third Young Master Sha Chengde, two men, were talking in the hall; they seemed to be discussing business. Kou Zhong only exchanged a greeting with them and went back to his room.

At the winding corridor of the garden he came across the Fifth Miss Sha Zhijing, who dressed up really meticulous today, whose bright count