Only after Ren Youyang and his guards disappeared from sight and the Zhen household servants led their horses forward to the hitching posts did Ding Songyan enter through the side door and find Master Yu waiting for him.

Without a word, he followed the man deeper into the Zhen estate, the route long since familiar.

Along the way, he prayed to every god and buddha he could think of, hoping that the Small Boat Gang’s fighters would launch their attack today and bring chaos.

This was not his wish alone. He believed Yan Changqing, Zhen Qianfan, and the "Ding family" faction all shared the same expectation.

Through all his probing these past days and the abnormalities the Zhen household had displayed, Ding Songyan was now convinced that Zhen Qianfan had arranged for him to tell stories to Yan Changqing precisely to create an opportunity for the "distinguished guest" to escape.

The reasoning was straightforward. After years of torture, Yan Changqing still refused to reveal where the Celestial Thearch’s treasure was hidden. Zhen Qianfan had reached sixty and could wait no longer. He chose to "release the tiger back to the mountain" and play the long game.

His plan was to let Yan Changqing escape with great difficulty. Under the pressure of pursuit, Yan Changqing would be driven toward his hidden cache to retrieve the treasure as a desperate gambit for survival. At that point, Zhen Qianfan would appear at the perfect moment like a hunter lying in wait behind the hunter—the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

If the strength and the number of people who came to save Yan Changqing exceeded his expectations, the True Spirit Sect and Celestial Maiden Sect that he had lured over with something else would become his helpers. They would cooperate with the Grandmaster in the city to ensure that things would not fall into the worst-case scenario.

The Zhen household’s delay in "inviting" the storyteller was not because they did not "trust" him. It was because their external reinforcements had not yet arrived. The moment the Celestial Maiden Sect and the True Spirit Sect’s people appeared in Dingjiang, Ding Songyan received his "invitation" almost immediately.

Given all this, the Small Boat Gang wanted to attack the Zhen estate to avenge their humiliation.

Yan Changqing wanted the Small Boat Gang to attack the Zhen estate, creating the necessary chaos for his escape.

Zhen Qianfan wanted the Small Boat Gang to attack the Zhen estate, creating the appearance that he was too distracted to prevent Yan Changqing’s escape.

The "Ding family" faction wanted the Small Boat Gang to attack the Zhen estate, so they could fish in troubled waters and take Yan Changqing.

Ding Songyan wanted the Small Boat Gang to attack the Zhen estate. The bigger the chaos, the better. Chaos bred variables, and variables gave him a chance of surviving this ordeal.

Therefore, if the Small Boat Gang truly struck today, it would be a quintuple win!

Amid these swirling thoughts, Ding Songyan once again saw the small building nestled among the flowering trees.

...

Clatter-clatter-clatter. Three thoroughbreds galloped in from beyond the city walls. At their head rode Zheng Zhuxi, now changed into a black fitted outfit with starlight and candleflame embroidered at the cuffs.

She had set out at first light, riding hard with Senior Brother Wu Feng and Senior Sister Tao Wuyue back to the Brightnight Sect’s mountain gate to deliver her report. Then they switched horses and rode back to Linjiang. Over six hours had passed.

Her mother, Brightnight Sect Master Tao Wenshu, had not accompanied them on horseback. For such distances, a "Spirit Resonated" Grandmaster was far faster than any horse and she had long since arrived in the prefectural capital.

Once through the city gate, Zheng Zhuxi reined in her impatience for fear of knocking into pedestrians. She dismounted, handed her horse to the sect brothers and sisters stationed at the gate, then deployed the "Waxing Moon Phantom Form" movement technique, weaving through the crowds and leaving behind faintly shimmering afterimages like mirages.

Soon she reached the tallest watchtower and climbed the wooden stairs to the very top.

Besides the two Yi clan members on routine surveillance duty, a woman in black robes stood there.

The woman appeared to be in her thirties and bore a 50–60% resemblance to Zheng Zhuxi. Though her features lacked Zheng Zhuxi’s delicacy and beauty, having a face more angular in shape, she carried an added quality of mature grace tempered by years.

She wore a rather heavy yet crude iron crown. In her left hand she held a long sword concealed within a deep black scabbard. Both her eyes bore double pupils, each hiding glimmers of light within their darkness.

"Mother, any activity from the Zhen estate?" Zheng Zhuxi caught her breath and asked urgently.

Tao Wenshu glanced at her daughter.

"Not yet. When will you learn to remain composed like your father—unmoved even if a mountain collapsed before you? Look at how restless you are."

"I’d have to switch to cultivating the Scripture of Utmost Sincerity for that. Too late now." Zheng Zhuxi relaxed at the news and shot back playfully.

Tao Wenshu turned her gaze toward North Water Street, toward the Zhen estate, and spoke in an even tone.

"Magistrate Lin is already at the northern watchtower. County Marshal Yi is at the eastern watchtower. You can relax. Go back and get some rest.

"Even if you stayed here, your level of martial cultivation would be of no use."

Zheng Zhuxi put on the manner of a petulant daughter.

"My cultivation progress is no worse than core disciples of the great sects. Mother, if you’d borne me a few years earlier, I’d surely have reached Mortal Surpassed by now, maybe even Form Transfigured.

"County Marshal Yi is only at Form Transfigured. Can he really hold off potential heretics?"

Tao Wenshu, her black robes embroidered with scattered stars, kept her eyes on the Zhen estate.

"Shooting from elevation alone, County Marshal Yi is sufficient to hold off a Subtlety Attuned Grandmaster."

Zheng Zhuxi asked nothing more. She steadied her breathing and focused her full attention on what might unfold at the Zhen estate.

...

The Zhen estate. Riverwaves Hall.

Su Chongxiao and Su Qingli each sat cross-legged behind tea tables laid with refreshments. Their attendants and maidservants stood beside them. Opposite sat Ren Youyang, sprawled in his chair with a casual swagger, his four guards lined up behind him.

At the seat of honor sat Zhen Qianfan in a black robe embroidered with the character for "fortune" and a six-panel cap. His four ears twitched faintly, as though listening to something unseen.

Amid polite pleasantries, Zhen Quanwang approached his father carrying a wooden box draped in red cloth and handed it over.

"My three honored guests." Zhen Qianfan accepted the box and placed it before him. "Allow me to let you verify its authenticity once more."

He lifted the red cloth and opened the lid.

Inside lay a fruit the size of a papaya that was entirely red. Even across the considerable distance, both Ren Youyang and Su Qingli caught a faint, clean fragrance. As it entered their nostrils, both felt as though their physical strength had grown slightly.

"It’s genuine." Su Chongxiao, in his bamboo crown, nodded gently.

Zhen Qianfan closed the lid and spoke with evident sincerity.

"I originally had no wish to sell this huai fruit that came to me by chance. My worthless sons are dull in talent. To this day not one has reached Form Transfigured. If one of them ate this fruit, it would surely give them greater ability to protect themselves after I’m gone.

"Unfortunately, things do not always go as one wishes. I can only sell this divine treasure. I ask for neither money nor secret manuals—only a promise."

...

Ding Songyan had the black cloth placed over his eyes. Supported by two Zhen household members, he wound through corridor after corridor. Only when he arrived at Yan Changqing’s location did a realization suddenly strike him.

Why did I never consider simply not coming to tell stories to Yan Changqing today?

I could have stalled for time and waited for the official authorities to finish their investigation and intervene directly!

Though the Zhen household might have sent Master Yu or another retainer to force me here, the thought never even crossed my mind. That is certainly thanks to Yan Changqing or his "old acquaintance." If it were the latter, they’ve confirmed today is the day?

Even as these thoughts flashed through his mind, a cool sensation descended into Ding Songyan’s sea of consciousness, resolving into the gaunt visage of Yan Changqing.

Ding Songyan used the "seed" to split his mind in two. He began narrating the next episode of The Legend of the White Snake while simultaneously speaking to Yan Changqing above the golden, glittering illusory ocean.

"Senior, is today the day?"

Yan Changqing smiled.

"Let’s watch a little longer. Wait a little more."

Ding Songyan glanced at the hazy light piercing through the mist, then asked, "What treasure did the Zhen household use to lure the True Spirit Sect and the Celestial Maiden Sect here?"

"A huai fruit." Yan Changqing smiled with the serenity of an old sage. "Eating it grants tremendous strength without interfering with other cultivation methods. When it comes to early-stage cultivation, both the Celestial Maiden Sect and True Spirit Sect’s arts are lacking in this area. Naturally they covet it. But not enough to fight to the death over it. They’re merely seeking an opportunity for their juniors."

So that’s why they brought Miss Xiao Qing to "see the world." They mean to feed it to her the moment they get it... Ding Songyan asked thoughtfully, "Then will they lend the Zhen household their strength and block your old acquaintance because of this?"

Yan Changqing chuckled.

"Wasn’t it Zhen Qianfan who lured my old acquaintance here in the first place?

"He deliberately invited someone affiliated with my sect to visit, giving that person the chance to steal that copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas. After that, how could my elders and old friends fail to recognize my handwriting, or fail to discern what that Secret Classic truly signified?"

So that Secret Classic really was hand-copied by you! And it was the Zhen household that let it leak—so that was the intent all along... Ding Songyan pretended he had not already guessed this. More wary that Yan Changqing might be deliberately misleading him, he simply asked, "What does it signify?"

Yan Changqing looked at him, his smile unchanged.

"It signifies that great fortune I shall bestow upon you."

He paced with hands clasped behind his back, his tone leisurely.

"If the True Spirit Sect and Celestial Maiden Sect’s people can delay my old acquaintance for a time, that would be ideal.

"You brought that dagger, yes?"

"I keep it on me at all times." Ding Songyan’s nerves sharpened.

Yan Changqing smiled.

"It will have its use shortly."

Upon hearing this, Ding Songyan thought of something and asked in a confirmatory tone,

"Senior, you are skilled in the art of divination. Can you calculate whether the Small Boat Gang will attack the Zhen estate today?"

Yan Changqing smiled, took two more paces, and said with perfect calm, "They will."

...

Moments ago, in the Zhen estate’s rear gate, two porters dressed as farmers in broad hats with heads lowered carried shoulder-poles laden with food ingredients. Led by a Zhen household servant, they made their way to the kitchen.

After settling the payment, they followed the same servant back toward the gate. Along the route, household guards and patrolmen were remarkably sparse, as though they had all been reassigned somewhere else.

Suddenly, one of the porters quickened his pace, came up beside the servant, and tapped his shoulder.

The servant turned his head in irritation, only to see a pair of eyes stained with bloodthirsty malice, an albino-pale face, and bright red lips with the texture of a bird’s beak.

Unbridled resentment surged in his heart, brimming with hatred for the Zhen household.

Why should they drink and make merry, enjoying themselves day after day, while I toil under the blazing sun?

The moment this thought arose, he wanted nothing more than to put a blade to the Zhen household’s sons. Yet knowing he lacked the strength, he could only stomp back to his quarters in seething frustration to sleep, abandoning his duties entirely.

With him gone, the two porters immediately slipped into the shadows of the covered walkway. They moved like phantoms, advancing silently toward Riverwave Hall where the Zhen estate was entertaining its honored guests.

They maintained absolute silence. Neither spoke a word. Both knew that Zhen Qianfan cultivated the Water Ape Divine Art and possessed the ability to hear in all directions.