FW (Eng)

Chapter 33 - The Master of the Ghosts

Slowly, Wen Kexing righted himself into a sitting position, looking at him without saying a word. Crossing his legs, fingers tapping against his own knee, he only said in a quiet voice, after half a beat, "My surname isn't Rong. I'm only bitter that I've never met that one surnamed Rong in my life, otherwise, I'll slaughter him once for every one time I run into him."

Zhou Zishu's face was devoid of any surprise. Upon hearing this, he paused, before his speech slowed as he said, "Oh? Looks like I've guessed wrongly, then, I thought that...I thought that the current Master of the Ghost Valley is a Rong family descendant."

In the darkness, only Zhang Chengling's light snoring could be heard. The distance between the two of them was not far, but was as silent as a graveyard. After a while, a smile slowly formed on Wen Kexing's face. This smile was different from his usual dumb, squinty-eyed grin; there were no laugh wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, his pitch-black irises still as cold as ice, reflecting a weak light. He looked over sharply, slender eyebrow cocked slightly, giving off the impression of a false smile. "Oh?"

Zhou Zishu's voice was so quiet that it seemed like his lips did not move at all, but the speed at which he spoke was rapid. "The Delighted Mourning Ghost spent money to hire the Poisonous Scorpion to stalk the kid all throughout his journey, not because he wanted to kill him, but because he desperately wanted to know if he'd seen a man with a missing finger when the Zhang family tragedy had occurred. According to what I know, the Hanged Ghost Xue Fang is missing a finger. But ever since we met those people in the run-down temple that day, I knew that the extermination of the Zhang family was not carried out by someone of the Ghost Valley."

Like he was greatly interested, Wen Kexing continued asking, "How did you know this?"

Zhou Zishu laughed lightly. "Escorting that kid to Taihu unharmed, with all his limbs intact out of the snare of a hundred thousand Ghosts--if my abilities were really that great, I'd have ruled over the pugilist world years ago, what would I be here for?"

Wen Kexing looked at him with a burning gaze, and said, "...You don't have to be this humble, either."

Zhou Zishu continued, "But why would the Delighted Mourning Ghost chase after this kid so doggedly? I think that there might be only one explanation: no matter who committed the deed on the Zhang family, there must have been a Ghost from the bamboo ridge who left the Valley on his own and got himself involved in this, and the Delighted Mourning Ghost suspects that...or should I say, wants to let people suspect that, this person is the Hanged Ghost. Additionally, the man in black who Gu Xiang killed in the rundown temple the other day, said the word "Purple" right before he died. Purple what? Let me guess...it can't be Purple Danger[4], can it?"

Wen Kexing nodded. "Indeed, the two of us followed them from Jiangnan all the way to Taihu, and then to Dongting. We arrived coincidentally, and our appearance was suspicious. I even killed that little ghost in the underground cave, because I was wary of him exposing my identity, am I right?"

Zhou Zishu said, "This isn't difficult to guess, Wen-xiong. If you take a look at the entire jianghu, there are too few people who I can't guess the background of. Discounting those of the Southern border and the Northern desert, within the pugilist world of the Central Plains, I can count them on one hand. You and I have spent so many days together, if I still couldn't tell, wouldn't I be too stupid?"

Wen Kexing was silent for a while, neither confirming nor denying. Then a laugh escaped him, and he nodded. "You really know too many things....Manor Lord Zhou? Lord Zhou?"

Zhou Zishu smiled. "I'm no more than a civilian now, the Valley Master is too polite." When Wen Kexing had directly named the 'Three-Autumn Nails of the Seven Acupunctures' earlier, Zhou Zishu had known that Wen Kexing had already guessed at his own background.