Book 5 Chapter 5 – Entanglement of Passion and Evil

Xingyang City.

Heavy snow.

Daiqing Lou has not opened its door to welcome the guests. Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Susu, three people were hiding inside a small uninhabited two-story side-building by the front courtyard, waiting quietly for the clothing store delivery boy.

Peipei has become their only hope of escaping.

Now that Xu Ziling was seriously wounded, relying on Kou Zhong’s strength alone, it would be impossible for him to bring the other two escaping from the city.

Losing the roster, Shen Luoyan would definitely do everything in her power to hunt them down, because this matter involved the rise and fall of the Wagang Army.

Kou Zhong leaned against the window and looked out; he said in low voice, “I am not lying to you, when Shen Luoyan, that b1tch, thought that you died, she was acting differently from her usual manner, and I know that she was not pretending.”

Xu Ziling was sitting cross-legged to recuperate; hearing Kou Zhong, he opened his eyes and said impatiently, “Stop talking! Whenever I remember her, my heart is burning.”

Without turning his head, Kou Zhong warned him, “Don’t be impatient; be careful, or else you might suffer fire deviation.”

Xu Ziling was shocked. He realized that after sustaining serious injury, his strength was in decline, and his state of mind was prone to fluctuate. Hastily he focused his attention to recover his mental state to its original crystal clear condition.

Her pretty face blushing slightly, Susu said, “Shen Luoyan did ask about Jiejie’s relationship with you two; when I told her, she did not seem to be convinced. Come to think about it, maybe she is really jealous!”

Kou Zhong’s gaze returned to the floating snowflakes filling the heaven and the earth outside. He nodded and said, “Shen Poniang once said that if she married, she would marry Xiao Ling, but she wanted me to be her lover. At that time she was joking, but now I think there is 30% truth in what she said. Ha! If we can create distress in her mind, all enmity is paid in full!”

And then he excitedly said, “Hey! He’s here!”

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ there was a knock on the door. The shop assistant holding a bundle of cloth in his hands shouted against the cold wind, “Satin brocade delivery!”

A big man came out of the main hall’s door. He walked across the front courtyard, and pushed the main gate a little. “What is it?” he asked.

The shop assistant handed the bundle over to the big man’s hands and muttered, “Naturally it is highest quality silk fabric; it’s for Miss Peipei.” Finished speaking, without even turning his head around he hurriedly trudged away, braving the snow.

The big man was stunned; he stared blankly for half a day before carrying the bundle back into the building.

Kou Zhong quickly dropped down on the floor and stuck his ear to listen to the activity downstairs.

He heard a woman asked, “He Fu! What is it?”

He Fu replied, “Really strange! Someone’s sending highest quality silk fabric and specifically indicated that it is for Lady Boss!”

“That is strange indeed!” the woman said, “Lady Boss has not personally come out to greet the guests for a long time, unexpectedly someone is trying to curry favor with her. Just deliver it to her place, we’ll talk about it later when she comes back!”

Noiselessly Kou Zhong flashed out of the side-room. A moment later he came back and said, “Turns out Peipei is the lady boss of this place. She lives in a secluded room at the rear courtyard, but right now I don’t know where she went.”

“This is not a good place to hide,” Xu Ziling said, “We’d better go to hide in her private chamber!”

Kou Zhong cheered, praising his good thinking. Carrying Susu, he left first to lead the way. Xu Ziling had no difficulty running after him.

If Yang Xuyan were to personally witness the current situation, he would be shocked and would not dare to believe his eyes.

Because he did not know that the ‘Secret to Long Life’ was Taoist School’s secret, which was not passed on throughout the ages. It was also the secret that controlled nature; that gods and ghosts could not comprehend.

When Yang Xuyan’s sword pierced Xu Ziling’s lower abdomen, it was blocked by the roster, so that the speed was somewhat reduced. However, this split second buffer was enough for Xu Ziling to prevent the sharp tip from delivering fatal qi into his body.

Lower abdomen was like the sea of qi, if this part were wounded, it would be very difficult to recover. To martial art practitioners who cultivate qi, it would be especially devastating.

Yet the ‘Secret to Long Life’s’ function was precisely to save one’s life and to prolong it. On top of that, there was Kou Zhong’s true qi, which came from the same source, giving aid to him in treating the injury. Therefore, within a period of one night, Xu Ziling was able to recover most of his strength, creating a miracle, which other people found it hard to believe. Meanwhile, Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Susu naturally thought that it was as it should be; they were not surprised at all.

It was Shen Luoyan who has miscalculated; she had the search concentrated in the dense lanes, alleys and houses within two li radius from her residence, resulting the three people could easily come and hide in this place.

By this time the girls of Daiqing Lou have not gotten out of bed for too long, everybody was taking a bath and changing their clothes, and have not left their rooms, hence there were only a few maids and servant walking along the corridor, so that the three people could arrive at the Lady Boss Peipei’s building without any surprise, without any danger. Avoiding two young maids at the anteroom, they slipped into her personal chamber.

Without any politeness Kou Zhong pulled open the bedspread and asked shivering Susu to get into the quilt first, and then he had Xu Ziling lying down on the other side, while he himself sat at the foot of the bed.

He laughed and said, “Looks like there is nothing special about the Wagang Army, at least up to this time they still cannot do anything to us.”

Susu angrily said, “The worst thing about Xiao Zhong is that you are very easy to be complacent. Wait until we can escape out of town, feeling proud about yourself at that time won’t be too late!”

Xu Ziling said, “Since leaving Yangzhou, night and day we lived a fugitive life. I really wish we could find a place with verdant hills and limpid water where we can settle down, living a quiet and peaceful life.”

Susu excitedly went into detailed discussion on what kind of place would be ideal for them to settle down.

Soon afterwards Kou Zhong asked about Yang Xuyan’s martial art skill. After Xu Ziling told him everything he knew, as if he was still terrified he said, “This person’s internal energy has reached the ‘following-one’s-heart-desires’ level; not only the tip of his sword could spit out qi power, it was even divided further into hundreds and thousands streams, each one with different level of pulling force, so that I was completely unable to display my usual level.”

Kou Zhong muttered to himself, “This is very unusual for sure, but since he could achieve it, we ought to be able to do the same.”

“Xiao Ling,” Susu was curious, “You really could not see his appearance clearly?”

‘That’s what more surprising,” Xu Ziling replied, “The place we fought was dark without any light, but clearly my vision was filled with sword rays, plus his movement was as fast as a ghost or a demon; I could not even tell whether he is tall or short, fat or thin.”

Kou Zhong slapped his thigh, “I understand,” he said, “Try pressing your eyeball with your finger; very quickly you will see stars. Yang Xuyan must be exploiting this principle; he used the sword qi to create pressure to your eyes, so that your misperception flared out. Ay! This guy can be considered really formidable!”

Xu Ziling nodded, “Perhaps it did happen like you said,” he said, “But his sword was even more terrifying. Obviously strike would hit the target, but suddenly it hit empty air, and the real strike came, it was so slick that I could not block it. No wonder there are so many dominating characters harboring a grudge under his sword.”

Kou Zhong breathed out a mouthful of cold air; he said, “This guy is really proficient. Huh?”

The three of them shut up immediately.

Sound of footsteps coming from afar, even Susu was able to hear it. Followed by the two maids in the outer hall spoke in chorus, “Madame is back!”

Inside the room, the three people were greatly delighted; knowing that finally they were going to find Peipei.

A somewhat cold and detach, deep, but pleasant to hear female voice spoke, “What is this?”

One of the maids replied, “Somebody bought a bolt of silk fabric from the west street shop and have it delivered here, indicating clearly that it was for Madame. This matter has been reported to Yun Niang.”

Peipei was silent for half a day before finally spoke calmly, “Go get