Cannot Provoke

Braving the pouring rain, Wang Gui walked along the road with Zhong Di, holding an umbrella.

"Second Senior Brother, did something happen to Tang Xiao You?" Zhong Di asked with a frown.

"I don't know. Zhao Suo Xiang has already returned, yet he still hasn't. I don't know how far along he is with preparing the things. Senior Brother was worried, so he sent us out to take a look," Wang Gui said in a low voice.

As the two walked along the main road, Tang Xiao You came out of a shop in the distance, twisting a wooden chest in his left hand and holding an umbrella in his right. He happened to see Wang Gui and Zhong Di.

"Second Senior Brother," Tang Xiao You suddenly called out.

"Huh?" Wang Gui froze, then immediately walked over.

"Come on. Let's find somewhere quiet," Wang Gui said.

"Mm." Tang Xiao You nodded.

Then, with Tang Xiao You leading the way, they soon arrived at a courtyard belonging to the Tang Family.

Inside, Wang Gui asked, "What happened?"

"Second Senior Brother, I failed to handle the matter properly this time." Tang Xiao You immediately lowered his head in shame.

"What about the Void Spirit Pearl?" Wang Gui asked with a frown.

"The Void Spirit Pearl didn't end up in Zhao Suo Xiang's hands. Instead, one of his friends took it." Tang Xiao You sighed.

"Oh?" Wang Gui's pupils contracted in surprise.

"Originally, according to our plan, I was going to find a suitable opportunity to either lose or gamble away the Void Spirit Pearl and deliver it to Zhao Suo Xiang. That way, after we secretly took the Demon Wolf, Zhao Suo Xiang wouldn't react too violently. Even if he found out that we were the ones who took it, without evidence, he wouldn't hound us relentlessly. After all, without evidence, he would still have received a Void Spirit Pearl. But just now, at the gambling house..." Tang Xiao You immediately recounted everything that had happened.

"Zhong Shan?" Wang Gui narrowed his eyes.

At the side, Zhong Di's brows were tightly furrowed. He glanced at Tang Xiao You and shook his head with a sigh.

"Zhong Di, you seem to be very familiar with Zhong Shan?" Wang Gui suddenly looked at Zhong Di.

"Senior Brother, did he inspect the dice beforehand?" Zhong Tian asked Tang Xiao You.

"Yes. The Gold Brick Building is an industry of the Tang Family. The dice we brought out afterward were definitely intact," Tang Xiao You said.

"Intact? Once the dice had passed through Zhong Shan's hands, they were no longer intact," Zhong Di said with a sigh.

Speaking of Zhong Shan, Zhong Di couldn't help sighing. Zhong Shan knew far too many things. When he taught his adopted sons, he would teach each person only a little, rather than teaching everyone everything. As for this ability to distinguish positions by sound, Zhong Shan had happened to teach it to him back then—and had taught it to him alone.

"Oh?" Tang Xiao You asked in astonishment.

"By listening to the sound and identifying the position, he tampered with all the dice's edges..." Zhong Di said.

"That's outrageous! He cheated?" Tang Xiao You demanded angrily.

"Did you not cheat earlier?" Wang Gui snorted coldly.

"Second Senior Brother." Tang Xiao You frowned, the anger in his heart refusing to dissipate.

"How strong is this Zhong Shan?" Wang Gui glanced at Zhong Di.

"A year and a half ago, he was still at the Tenth Postnatal Stage. He should have joined an Immortal Sect by now." Zhong Di said this because he also had no idea what Zhong Shan's current cultivation was.

"A year? Hmph. No matter how good his Root Bone is, what could he do?" Tang Xiao You immediately said.

"No, Senior Brother. You absolutely must not underestimate him. And don't provoke him." Zhong Di immediately spoke up.

"Oh?" A strange glint flashed in Wang Gui's eyes as he looked at Zhong Di.

"I remember that back then, when Zhong Shan was at the Seventh Postnatal Stage, a Connate expert killed one of his adopted sons. After Zhong Shan learned of it, he took three days—three days—to bring back that Connate expert's head and offer it as a sacrifice to his adopted son. Two days earlier, he had still been searching everywhere for that Connate expert. In other words, in a single day—one day—he cut off the head of a Connate expert." Zhong Di drew a deep breath, a trace of tension flashing through his eyes.

One day? A Seventh Postnatal Stage cultivator had slain a Connate expert?

Wang Gui and Tang Xiao You exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.

"Impossible. A Seventh Postnatal Stage cultivator slew a Connate expert?" Tang Xiao You said incredulously. Everyone had cultivated up from the Postnatal realm, so they naturally knew what this gap represented.

"How did he kill him?" Wang Gui asked.

"I don't know. I only saw him disappear for a day, then return with the Connate expert's head. So if you can avoid making an enemy of him, don't provoke him," Zhong Di recalled.

"Since you didn't see it, then there's no telling. Perhaps he found an accomplice—an accomplice who happened to be a Connate expert?" Wang Gui shook his head.

"Exactly. He had someone else act, and you simply didn't see it. Finding a few Connate experts isn't difficult," Tang Xiao You said.

Finding a few Connate experts? Only a thousand-year aristocratic clan could say something like that. Zhong Di knew perfectly well what Zhong Shan's circumstances had been back then. Connate experts? If he had had one, the incident at Dragon Gate Valley would never have happened. Zhong Di was just about to say more.

"Enough. You didn't see any of that yourself, so there's no need to keep talking about it. Since he has plenty of treasures, let's make him spit some out this time. Then find an opportunity to kill him," Wang Gui said, his eyes turning cold.

Hearing the first half, Zhong Di had still wanted to persuade him. But when he heard Wang Gui's final sentence, he fell silent. From the moment he saw Zhong Shan, Zhong Di had known that he would certainly be unable to sleep or eat in peace from then on. Zhong Shan was like a demon in his heart. If he died, everything would become simple.

"Yes." Tang Xiao You and Zhong Di immediately answered.

Night fell. Outside, heavy rain poured down. In the courtyard where the Demon Wolf was kept, a door suddenly opened. A man dressed in a loose white robe and holding a white sword walked out.

"Brother Zhao, it happens to be raining tonight. Didn't you want to see my 'Overturning Rain Swordplay'? Then come with me," the White Robed Man said.

After speaking, the White Robed Man leaped onto the roof and shot toward the distance. The torrential rain seemed unable to come near him.

As soon as the White Robed Man left, Zhao Suo Xiang also opened the door. Gripping his long spear, a fierce battle intent flashed through his eyes. He leaped up, landed on the roof, and hurried after him into the distance.

The hidden sentries lurking nearby all revealed looks of admiration.

The small courtyard where Zhong Shan was staying.

Zhong Shan and Tian Ling'er lived in a suite with an outer and inner room. Zhong Shan slept in the outer room, while Tian Ling'er slept in the inner room.

"Zhong Shan, did you hear that?" Tian Ling'er asked from inside.

"Mm." Zhong Shan nodded.

Although heavy rain was falling, Zhong Shan was at the Innate Third Stage. He heard perfectly clearly when someone challenged Zhao Suo Xiang to a match.

"Let's go take a look," Tian Ling'er said.

"No," Zhong Shan said with a frown.

"Why not?" Tian Ling'er immediately asked.

"It's unusual." Zhong Shan's brow furrowed even more deeply. Although he didn't know what had happened, he could still sense a faint, subtle strangeness in it.

"What's unusual?" Tian Ling'er pressed immediately.

"Go to sleep. We're leaving tomorrow," Zhong Shan said, refusing to answer and directly shutting her down.

"If you won't tell me, then forget it." Tian Ling'er immediately grew angry.

"Mm. Go to sleep," Zhong Shan said.

Although Zhong Shan told Tian Ling'er to sleep, he himself felt restless and unsettled.

Staring outside, Zhong Shan couldn't sleep. By midnight, the rain stopped.

Now that the rain had stopped, he didn't know whether Zhao Suo Xiang was still fighting someone.

At around the fourth watch, Zhong Shan heard voices coming from outside again.

"Brother Zhao's spear technique is extraordinary. Liu Ming admires you," the man who had fought him earlier said.

"Brother Liu's swordsmanship is also superb. I, Zhao, gained quite a lot as well," Zhao Suo Xiang replied.

After that, all fell silent. Clearly, each had returned to rest. Zhong Shan also began to rest peacefully for a while.

At dawn, Zhong Shan rose, woke Tian Ling'er, and prepared to leave immediately, because he felt the unease in his heart growing heavier and heavier.

"You woke me so early. What is it?" Tian Ling'er complained, rubbing her still-sleepy eyes.

"Ah! This is bad! The Demon Wolf has mutated! The Demon Wolf has mutated!" A cry of alarm suddenly came from the distance.

Hearing this, Zhong Shan knew that something bad had certainly happened. Tian Ling'er also immediately became interested.

The Demon Wolf had mutated? What did that mean?

Tian Ling'er quickly straightened her clothes, washed up with the basin brought by the maid, and pulled Zhong Shan outside.

Before long, they reached the courtyard where the Demon Wolf was imprisoned.

At that moment, everyone stood in the courtyard: Zhao Suo Xiang, Zhong Di, Wang Gui, Tang Xiao You, a White Robed Man, and a servant who looked extremely respectful.

They were all looking at a white fox outside the glazed dome. The Demon Wolf had turned into a Demon Fox?

"The white wolf turned into a white fox?" Tian Ling'er stared at the white fox lying on the ground before her in disbelief.

"Impossible. A wolf is a wolf. Someone switched it out." Zhao Suo Xiang glared.

"Switched it out? How could that happen? Tang Si, explain yourself clearly." Tang Xiao You shouted at the servant.

Everyone turned their eyes toward him. The servant called Tang Si shuddered in fright and immediately fell to his knees.

"Eldest Young Master, I came to feed the white wolf rice porridge this morning as usual. But when I carried the white wolf out, it had become like this. It mutated, it mutated—the wolf turned into a fox." Tang Si spoke through trembling lips, clearly terrified.

"When you fed it rice porridge last time, hadn't it changed?" Zhao Suo Xiang asked coldly.

"No. It rained heavily yesterday. After it rained during the night, I fed it once. It was still a white wolf then. Those guards saw it too—they saw it. It was still a wolf at that time." Tang Si was terrified.

"Then that means the Demon Wolf was switched out after the rain? Brother Liu and I returned from our match at the fourth watch. When we came back, it would have been impossible for anyone to switch it out. So it must have happened after the rain—that is, at midnight. From midnight to the second watch, within that one shichen, the white wolf was stolen?" Zhao Suo Xiang asked coldly.

"It was you! It must have been you!" Tang Xiao You suddenly pointed at Zhong Shan.

At his words, Zhong Shan narrowed his eyes.

"What makes you think it was us? Which of your eyes saw us do it?" Tian Ling'er immediately flared up.

"You—you said it yourself. You said that if you ever encountered the Demon Wolf, you would definitely release it. You must have released the Demon Wolf." Tang Xiao You pointed at Tian Ling'er.

"Hmph. Which of your ears heard me say that?" Zhong Shan gave a cold laugh.

The moment Zhong Shan spoke, Tian Ling'er immediately remembered. Tang Xiao You hadn't been nearby when she said those words.

"Exactly. How did you hear it?" Tian Ling'er immediately shouted.

"Second Senior Brother and Zhong Di told me. You won't be able to deny it." Tang Xiao You immediately shouted back, clearly quick-witted in a crisis.

ps: I'm in the middle of fighting for the rankings. Please vote and recommend.