Repaying a Favor?

When Chu Qing returned to his little courtyard, the assassin's corpse was still lying there, looking somewhat desolate.

Chu Qing gave it a silent glance before entering the house.

Wen Rou was still meditating on the kang. Only upon hearing footsteps did she open her eyes, her voice carrying a trace of weakness:

"You're back."

"Mm."

Chu Qing took the bottle of antidote from his robes and tossed it to Wen Rou:

"The antidote."

Wen Rou opened the bottle, took out a pill and swallowed it, then circulated her inner force.

Only when the black qi on the back of her hand gradually faded did Chu Qing turn and leave the room. He fetched a shovel and began digging a pit in the courtyard.

Before long, a large pit had been dug.

Chu Qing examined the assassin's body once more. Unfortunately, the assassin had nothing of value on him, and there was nothing to be gained. Only then did Chu Qing toss the body into the pit and cover it with earth.

After stamping the soil down firm, Chu Qing finally let out a breath:

"Looks like the Corpse Buriers' trade isn't easy either..."

There was a group of people in the martial world who sought neither fame nor profit and asked nothing of their future. They specialized in burying unclaimed bodies left behind by conflicts in the martial world.

They were known as the Corpse Buriers...

Chu Qing remembered seeing them once. They had been taciturn people; some carried coffins on their backs, while others merely had a rolled-up straw mat tucked at their waists.

Perhaps because they dealt with corpses all year round, they all carried a somewhat cold and eerie air about them.

Shaking his head, Chu Qing set down the shovel and entered the house, intending to check on Wen Rou.

He had only just approached Wen Rou when she suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. She glanced at Chu Qing, rolled her eyes back, and collapsed onto the kang.

Chu Qing's heart jolted, and he thought there was something wrong with the antidote.

He took her wrist and checked her pulse, only then breathing a sigh of relief.

The abnormality within her body had been removed; it was merely that after the thieves had fled, the house was empty...

"So she's asleep?

"Hey, have you really taken me for such a good man? If you sleep here, where am I supposed to sleep?"

Looking at Wen Rou curled up on the kang, pain still lingering on her face, Chu Qing nudged her twice. When she showed no response, he was speechless for a long while.

He knew she had not simply fallen asleep, but had passed out.

Still, once she woke from this sleep, her injuries would more or less be healed.

With a sigh, he grabbed a quilt and tossed it over Wen Rou.

He himself left the room, brought over two chairs, then sat cross-legged and continued circulating his cultivation.

The night passed without incident. The next morning, Chu Qing's ears twitched as he heard movement in the bedroom.

Knowing Wen Rou had awakened, he stood and stretched his limbs.

After sitting all night, even his bones had stiffened. As he stretched, they crackled and popped.

When he entered, he saw Wen Rou hugging the quilt and sitting against the wall. She looked up at Chu Qing, confusion still in her eyes:

"Who exactly are you?

"Your scent is somewhat like Big Brother from the Chu Family, but also not quite the same."

"Is your nose really that sharp?"

Chu Qing looked at Wen Rou in surprise.

Wen Rou nodded:

"Very sharp."

"If you have met someone before, then see him again later, can you recognize him at a glance no matter what he disguises himself as?"

"As long as his scent hasn't changed, I can recognize him."

Chu Qing considered this, then said:

"Wait here a moment."

He went to the kitchen, cooked two bowls of rice porridge, sprinkled some salted vegetables into them, and brought one bowl to her.

Wen Rou licked her lips, glanced at Chu Qing again, then hugged the bowl and began slurping.

"Once you finish eating, leave this place."

Chu Qing ate as well.

Wen Rou did not pester him. She merely gave a soft "Mm."

But after a while, she looked up at Chu Qing:

"But... you saved my life."

"So what?"

Chu Qing looked up at her.

"Master said that a debt of life-saving grace should be repaid by offering oneself in marriage."

With eyes as placid as still water, Wen Rou spoke words enough to make a person's ears burn and heart race.

Fortunately, Chu Qing was no greenhorn. He merely smiled at her words:

"Are you sure you haven't mixed up 'repaying a favor' and 'seeking revenge'?"

"?"

When Wen Rou looked at Chu Qing again, the confusion in her eyes deepened.

"Don't let your thoughts run wild."

Chu Qing said softly:

"You and I met by chance. I happened to have the opportunity to save your life; I was not seeking repayment from you."

Yet inwardly, he was rather speechless. Could it be that I've been cursed with peach blossoms lately?

First there had been Xia Wanshuang, and now Wen Rou... what was going on here?

Women were like quagmires. Especially given his current circumstances, he absolutely could not sink too deeply into one.

After thinking it over, Wen Rou said nothing. She merely quickly finished the bowl of porridge.

With that, the color in her face improved considerably.

She lifted the quilt and got off the kang:

"Then I'll leave."

"Mm."

Chu Qing nodded, but just as Wen Rou was about to leave the room, he called out to her again:

"Wait."

"You want me to offer myself in marriage now?"

Wen Rou turned back and asked him.

"...Can you forget about this offering-yourself-in-marriage business?"

Just how worried was Cui Bunü that Wen Rou would never get married?

What kind of muddled nonsense had he been teaching her day after day?

Why did anyone who saved her seem as though they had been swindled into taking responsibility for her?

Chu Qing said softly:

"If you truly wish to repay me, then promise me one thing."

"Fine."

Wen Rou nodded solemnly.

"From now on, do not come disturb me again. Neither you nor anyone you know is allowed to come here."

Chu Qing spoke in a low voice.

This woman's constitution was actually rather troublesome.

He had the feeling that even moving away would be meaningless. As long as she wanted to, she could follow the 'scent' and find him.

Rather than keep hiding like this, it was better to make things clear with her.

Wen Rou thought for a moment:

"Fine."

Chu Qing waved his hand upon hearing this, and only then did Wen Rou leave.

Yet as he watched her departing figure vanish, Chu Qing could not help furrowing his brow...

His identity as an assassin made him inevitably suspicious.

She had agreed so readily. Could she be agreeing in public while defying him in private?

Unfortunately, he still had no particularly good way of dealing with this girl.

Their relationship was a complete mess. He could neither beat her nor kill her. It was truly troublesome.

Fortunately, over the next two days, Wen Rou really did not come looking for him. She had probably taken Chu Qing's words to heart.

Chu Qing, meanwhile, carried on with his daily routine. He practiced martial arts early in the morning, cultivated his qi at night, and went to the oil and grain shop at midnight to see Zhou Yi. Sometimes he went to help him resolve the Demonic Seed, and sometimes to see whether Wu Qianhuan had left a message.

He was in no hurry regarding Cheng Sihai. As long as the man remained in Heavenly Dance City, Chu Tian would not fail to find him.

Sure enough, by the evening of the second day, Chu Qing received news from Chu Tian.

The contents were lengthy, but Chu Qing roughly summed them up.

Cheng Sihai was currently hiding within the Liu Family of Heavenly Dance City.

The Liu Family was not a martial world clan. Its head, Liu Dafu, had a background similar to Xia Wanshuang's family; he was a wealthy merchant of Heavenly Dance City.

Cheng Sihai had taken the alias Ji Changchun and was serving as an adviser in the Liu Family.

As for the Four Great Guardians, they had become martial arts guards of the Liu Family.

For the moment, it remained unclear whether the Liu Family's patriarch knew who these people truly were.

Of course, none of the latter details mattered to Chu Qing.

He only needed to know where Cheng Sihai was.