On the day he arrived in Guangning City, Fang Shuwen had asked Zhou Qingmei a question.
When would the Pearl Pavilion's reinforcements arrive?
Zhou Qingmei had said that it would take time for the escort agency to deliver the message, and more time for the reinforcements to travel from the Pearl Pavilion to Guangning City.
All things considered, no one could say for certain when the reinforcements would arrive.
So when Zhang Fang first appeared before Fang Shuwen, Fang Shuwen had his doubts.
He seemed to have arrived too early.
That was the first flaw.
Second, as a disciple of the Pearl Pavilion and a member of the righteous path of the martial world, there was nothing to be said about him slaying evil cultivators.
But the man in black who had abducted Fang Lingxin was far less skilled than Zhang Fang, and Zhang Fang probably hadn't fully understood what was going on at the time.
Yet he had killed the man in black the moment he arrived.
It had all the makings of a murder to silence a witness, an attempt to cover something up that only made it more conspicuous.
That was the second flaw.
Fang Shuwen had been through too much since childhood, and had lived two lives, past and present. It never hurt to be cautious.
So, regardless of whether these two flaws were real, whether he was overthinking things or there really was something amiss...
He decided to probe further.
Fang Shuwen's method of probing was rather plain and simple.
He sent Zhang Fang to keep watch on the Great Xuan Bank.
At the time, the bank was known to be operating normally. If it vanished without a trace after Zhang Fang went to watch it,
that would mean there was definitely something wrong with him.
Conversely, if Zhang Fang used the opportunity to uncover a lead on the Black Sha Cult,
they could follow the original plan and investigate.
Fang Shuwen hadn't hidden his suspicions about Zhang Fang from Zhou Qingmei.
That night, they stayed at the Fang family residence. Fang Shuwen told Zhou Qingmei he had something to discuss, and that was what they talked about.
As a result, Zhou Qingmei tossed and turned all night, unable to sit or lie at ease.
In the end, though, Fang Shuwen persuaded her...
Zhou Qingmei was calm and decisive. She believed Fang Shuwen not because of the friendship they had formed along the way, but because his words were not arrows fired at random.
There were indeed mysteries about Zhang Fang that were hard to explain.
Besides, Fang Shuwen hadn't asserted that there was definitely something wrong with Zhang Fang.
He was still testing him.
If Zhang Fang ultimately proved to be innocent, everyone would naturally be happy.
If not, they would be one step closer to the truth. Why not?
The answer Zhang Fang ultimately handed in was Qingyang Manor.
But that answer... was hard to describe in a few words.
The flaws beneath Qingyang Manor were practically too numerous to count.
All the signs indicated that the Black Sha Cult had been entrenched in Guangning City for more than a day or two, yet Qi Zhifei was the only one beneath Qingyang Manor.
They hadn't even seen a shadow of the so-called young cult master.
Too many corpses had accumulated there. Judging by their number, far more people cultivated the [Black Sha Demonic Art] than they had seen that night.
Not to mention the [Azure Corpse Record].
That night, they hadn't seen a single Black Sha Cult expert with a green face and red eyes.
All the signs showed that the so-called demonic lair beneath Qingyang Manor was now merely the "chariot" sacrificed to save the king.
But the most crucial point was Qi Zhifei's death.
He was the bait Fang Shuwen had deliberately left alive.
Because he suspected Zhang Fang and was also worried about Fang Mingxuan, during the battle beneath Qingyang Manor, Fang Shuwen had kept his attention on those two as well as on Zhou Qingmei.
Fang Mingxuan had never gone near Qi Zhifei from beginning to end.
Zhang Fang, however, had stopped briefly near him.
Though Fang Shuwen hadn't seen Zhang Fang strike, he was the chief suspect.
Even so, Fang Shuwen hadn't stepped forward to confront him then.
Without direct evidence, confronting Zhang Fang would only alert the snake by beating the grass, and Zhang Fang could have denied everything.
And even if Zhang Fang admitted it, there were things Fang Shuwen and Zhou Qingmei wanted to know that he still wouldn't tell them.
If Zhang Fang really was one of the Black Sha Cult, then his purpose in doing all this was simply to go along with the situation.
He wanted Fang Shuwen to believe that the danger to Zhou Qingmei had passed and his task of protecting her had been completed.
In that case, Fang Shuwen decided to turn Zhang Fang's own scheme against him and let him think he had gotten what he wanted.
Once people grew pleased with themselves, they lost all restraint.
When they thought the outcome was settled, they often ended up saying everything, whether they should or not.
People often thought villains died because they talked too much.
But the villains couldn't be blamed entirely...
A sense of accomplishment needed to be shared.
If you scored a hundred on a test, were you supposed to hide the paper away instead of showing it off, so no one would ever know?
That was asking too much of anyone.
So Fang Shuwen and Zhou Qingmei discussed it and decided that one would remain in the open while the other stayed hidden. If Zhang Fang really did have a problem, Zhou Qingmei would take the opportunity to draw the truth out of him.
If there was nothing wrong with him, Fang Shuwen wouldn't need to show himself.
He could act as he saw fit from the shadows.
That was how Zhou Qingmei came to return to her sect with Zhang Fang, while Fang Shuwen took his leave and headed back to Julu City.
In truth, Fang Shuwen had been secretly following them all along.
Though he didn't know any qinggong, he could follow their horses' hoofprints. His Muscle Tendon Change had also reached grand completion, allowing him to keep his breath from leaking out. Whether he could have concealed himself from an unparalleled expert remained unknown, but hiding from Zhang Fang was easy.
To be honest, Zhang Fang's plan was a good one, but there had never been any chance of making Fang Shuwen leave.
The part of his task requiring him to keep Zhou Qingmei safe until the danger had passed had never been completed.
He hadn't even received the task reward yet. Where could he possibly go?
The result was fairly good.
Without Fang Shuwen's protection, Zhang Fang had indeed revealed his true colors.
By probing further, they had also learned the young cult master's identity.
As for that major undertaking, however... Zhou Qingmei's acting ultimately hadn't been good enough, and Zhang Fang had noticed a flaw.
Fang Shuwen had been forced to show himself and stop him.
Zhang Fang wanted to understand before he died, and Fang Shuwen concealed nothing, recounting the whole affair from its orchid beginnings to its willow-fluff end.
When he finished, Zhang Fang smiled helplessly:
"I underestimated you in the end... Of course, how could someone who has cultivated his martial arts to such a level be so simple?"
Fang Shuwen didn't mention that his martial arts were so strong mainly because the system had given him a cheat.
He crouched down and looked at Zhang Fang:
"Why don't you tell me what you were thinking?
"A warrior severing his own arm... It looks tragic and heroic, but that arm was too thin."
"Even a clever housewife can't cook without rice."
Zhang Fang felt rather aggrieved himself:
"The young cult master gave me two orders. First, I was to kill Junior Sister Zhou. Second, I had to capture Fang Lingxin.
"But Black Granny and the Green-Faced Ghost failed one after the other, and your martial arts were beyond anything we could match.
"With the people we have in Guangning City now, we couldn't shake you in the slightest...
"So we could only do everything we could to make you leave on your own."
"So where did all your people go?"
Fang Shuwen's tone was gentle, as though he were merely chatting with an old friend.
Zhang Fang shook his head.
"I can't tell you that.
"All right, I know what I needed to know. Now I can die without regrets. Kill me."
Zhou Qingmei looked at Zhang Fang, her eyes filled with complicated feelings.
"Senior Uncle devoted himself to teaching you, passed on all your martial arts and taught you the way of chivalry and righteousness. His kindness as a teacher was as great as a mountain.
"What hold does the Black Sha Cult have over you, that you would even give up your life for this demonic cult and its wicked deeds?"
Zhang Fang gave a self-mocking smile.
"Junior Sister Zhou, you come from an upright family, so of course you don't understand. Someone like me never had a choice from the very beginning."
"In that case..."
Fang Shuwen suddenly smiled.
"Why don't we take a guess?"
Zhang Fang raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"