The whole table of guests had already laid bare the reason for the gathering. At this point, if Xu Yi still didn't speak, it would clearly be unreasonable.
He set down his wine cup and slapped the table. "Brother Zhang, you really think too little of me. Something like this happened, yet you didn't tell me. That's enough to chill a man's heart. It seems you still regard me as an outsider after all."
Zhang Wenfeng dismissed the others, then pulled Xu Yi down to sit. His face flushed as he said, "Since things have come to this, I won't hide it from you, Brother Xu. In truth, from the very beginning, I had another purpose in befriending you. I meant to wait until the time was right, until our friendship had grown deeper, before explaining everything. But now, I can't keep it to myself any longer."
Zhang Wenfeng's candid confession was beyond Xu Yi's expectations. He had thought Zhang Wenfeng would keep stringing him along.
On second thought, Zhang Wenfeng's approach was understandable. After all, they barely knew each other. When asking someone for help, this was the usual way to go about it. Who would come right out and speak from the heart at the very start?
Then Zhang Wenfeng explained the whole story.
It turned out that the Yin General Pan Feng had taken a fancy to his only daughter, Zhang Bao'er, and wanted to take her as his bride. Knowing Pan Feng's character, Zhang Wenfeng refused to yield.
Pan Feng seized on this as an excuse, constantly sending Yin soldiers and wandering souls through Sishui. The heavy yin energy had caused countless living creatures around the river to die. If this continued, Sishui would become a land of ghosts.
Zhang Wenfeng had tried negotiating several times,