SHINK!

With a soft sound, Guan Tianyue’s other leg was severed from his body.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the grand hall.

Fang Shuwen had already made his way to Zhou Qingmei’s side. Witnessing the scene, he whispered to her,

"Are all of you from Zhuji Pavilion this brutal?"

Zhou Qingmei replied earnestly,

"It is everyone’s duty to eliminate demons and heretics."

"Makes sense!"

Fang Shuwen nodded in earnest agreement.

Zuo Qingshuang, off to the side, rolled her eyes. ’This boy has the nerve to call Xu Chongshan brutal?’

’He should take a look at himself...’

’The once-unrivaled Sect Leader of the Black Death Sect, Feng Mantian, has been beaten beyond recognition.’

’He was smashed right through a wall... That’s going to be a real pain to repair later.’

’And forget Feng Mantian—just look at the other old Demons in this hall.’

’Qing Yangzi’s head was smashed into his chest cavity. Ghost Scholar had a hole punched straight through his heart.’

’And Monk Jile simply exploded.’

’By comparison, Li Nanchen’s body had been relatively intact... until his own father hacked him to pieces.’

’Now, this entire hall in Zhuji Pavilion is a bloody mess, and it’s all this boy’s masterpiece.’

’Yet he acts like he had nothing to do with it and has the gall to call Xu Chongshan brutal?’

’But looking at him now, when he isn’t fighting, Fang Shuwen really does have a somewhat scholarly and gentle air about him.’

’His name sounds so refined. Almost literary...’

’If she hadn’t just witnessed him in the act of killing, who would have ever guessed he was such a peerless monster?’

After a moment’s thought, she spoke up.

"Young Hero Fang, could I trouble you to... check Feng Mantian’s body for the antidote to Life-Ending Powder?"

"An antidote? Master, you’ve been poisoned?"

Zhou Qingmei and Lu Xiaoqing finally realized what was happening.

Fang Shuwen paused for a second but didn’t hesitate, walking straight over to Feng Mantian’s corpse. Unfortunately, he’d beaten the body so thoroughly that its chest and abdomen were caved in, nearly flattened like a pancake.

It was a truly gruesome sight... With a look of disgust, he rummaged around but came up empty-handed.

"Was he the one who poisoned you all?"

Fang Shuwen returned empty-handed, a difficult expression on his face.

"No... It was Li Nanchen."

Zuo Qingshuang said, her expression strange.

"..."

Fang Shuwen glanced at the pieces of Li Nanchen scattered all over the hall, then thought for a moment and said,

"Why don’t you let me try, Senior?"

In truth, they didn’t have much time to waste in the hall.

Fang Shuwen had fought his way up with Lu Xiaoqing and Zhou Qingmei, carving out an opening in the enemy lines and rescuing many members of Zhuji Pavilion in the process.

With their support, the battle outside was no longer completely one-sided.

They now needed fresh forces to join the fight to completely fend off the Black Death Sect’s assault.

Fortunately, he hadn’t wasted much time killing those few men. He just hadn’t expected Zuo Qingshuang and her people to all be poisoned.

Zuo Qingshuang glanced at Fang Shuwen, then at the gruesome corpses scattered around them, and finally gave a resolute nod.

"Please, Young Hero, try whatever you wish!"

Fang Shuwen sensed an air of someone ready to face death in her words and couldn’t help but feel impressed. ’As expected of a senior of the Jianghu,’ he thought.

He immediately moved behind her and channeled the power of the Muscle Strengthening Scripture, a Divine Technique, into her body.

The moment his palm made contact with her back, Zuo Qingshuang betrayed a hint of fear.

"Young Hero Fang, please be gentle..."

Fang Shuwen was speechless.

Life-Ending Powder was exceptionally insidious, hiding within one’s meridians and making it extremely difficult to detect.

Even if one knew they were poisoned, they wouldn’t feel its effects unless they circulated their True Qi.

But now, as Fang Shuwen’s True Qi entered her and, with the help of her own Inner Breath, completed a full Circulation through her body, he detected nothing at all.

Fang Shuwen released his hand, a baffled look on his face, but Zuo Qingshuang’s eyes went wide.

"The poison... It’s gone!!"

She shot to her feet.

"Qingmei, Qing’er, you two look after Young Hero Fang. I’m going out to join the fight!"

"Master, I’ll go with you,"

Zhou Qingmei called out hastily.

"There’s no need."

Zuo Qingshuang said urgently,

"Young Hero Fang has shown our Zhuji Pavilion an immense kindness. You two help me take good care of him."

As she spoke, she strode past Xu Chongshan—who was still hacking off limbs, wishing he could dice Guan Tianyue into a thousand pieces—and rushed straight out the door.

Xu Chongshan glanced over and quickly shouted,

"Junior Sister, be careful! Your poison...!"

"Young Hero Fang cured it for me."

By the time her words reached his ears, she was already out of sight.

Xu Chongshan froze. Forgetting his torture of Guan Tianyue, he forced himself to use his energy to press his captive’s acupoints to stop the bleeding, then rushed over to Fang Shuwen’s side. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But he was so used to his cold demeanor that he didn’t know how to ask for help.

He fidgeted anxiously for a long moment, his face flushing red, but couldn’t manage to say a word.

The ever-perceptive Fang Shuwen spoke up.

"Senior, just turn around..."

"Yes, yes, of course!"

Xu Chongshan immediately turned his back.

"Thank you, Young Hero!!"

Fang Shuwen said no more, simply repeating what he had done before. ’Truth be told, I have no idea how I cured the poison,’ he thought. ’But since Zuo Qingshuang said it’s gone, what I did must have worked. I’ll just do it again.’

After one full Circulation, Xu Chongshan was also restored to his original state.

He turned his head to give Fang Shuwen a grateful look, then instructed Zhou Qingmei and Lu Xiaoqing,

"You two take good care of Young Hero Fang. Your Martial Uncle will be right back!"

With that, he also flew out. But as he passed Guan Tianyue and saw blood still seeping from his wounds, he pressed a few more of his acupoints...

He couldn’t have the man just bleeding out and dying while he was gone.

Fang Shuwen scratched his head.

"I have hands and feet. Do I really need to be looked after like this?

"Besides, with your Senior Sister Lu in her current state, who’s taking care of whom?"

Zhou Qingmei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"I suppose Master and Martial Uncle... are just overjoyed?

"In any case, if it weren’t for you, Zhuji Pavilion would have faced a true catastrophe. This is an immense debt of gratitude. No thanks would be enough."

Lu Xiaoqing nodded in earnest as well.

"Qingmei is right. With the Pavilion Master away, we in Zhuji Pavilion would have been finished this time if not for you."

Fang Shuwen looked at the other Zhuji Pavilion disciples in the hall, all poisoned with Life-Ending Powder and staring at him like hungry chicks in a nest. He sighed helplessly.

"Let’s put aside the talk of gratitude for now... Time to cure some more poison."

The Zhuji Pavilion disciples, who had been waiting for a long time but hadn’t dared to speak up, now scrambled over.

Curing them was simple enough for Fang Shuwen, and he went through them one by one... Whether intentionally or not, every single disciple he cured would, before leaving, instruct Zhou Qingmei and Lu Xiaoqing, "You absolutely must take good care of Young Hero Fang!"

Anyone who knew the situation would understand, but an outsider might think they were all exchanging a secret password.