At dusk, the streets of the outer city were already packed with people. Night market shops were opening one after another, while merchants peddling strange wares slipped into the dark alleys in droves.
Wei Ren had stopped amid the bustle. Zhang Xiangyun stood in front of him, Luo Fu behind. Nian Qiuyan stood at the mouth of the dark alley, appearing to favor neither side, yet impossible to ignore.
"What are you panicking for?" Zhang Xiangyun grinned at Wei Ren. "Let's talk."
Wei Ren grinned back. "How strange. What could we possibly have to talk about?"
"Oh, there's plenty we could talk about." Zhang Xiangyun strolled toward him at an unhurried pace. "For instance, whether the food in the Dining Hall is any good, how vicious the Agricultural School's venomous insects are, how long it takes to refine a Ghost Armor Heavenly Spider, or how to make a message disappear from the Listening Wind Ruler—" Before he could finish, Wei Ren used the Wind Riding Technique to flee. A crackling sound rang through the air as golden Lightning Threads slithered forward, long and crooked, only to be blocked by a transparent web of spider silk. The two forces canceled each other out.
Wei Ren took the opportunity to disappear into the crowd.
Zhang Xiangyun spread his hand and caught a length of spider silk severed by the golden lightning. It hung above his palm, never touching his skin. The Ghost Armor Heavenly Spider was highly poisonous.
"So it really was him. He's pretty skilled with that silk." Zhang Xiangyun sneered, and Luo Fu immediately gave chase.
Wei Ren's reaction made it clear that he had a guilty conscience. The two groups chased and dodged each other for quite a while. Zhang Xiangyun noticed that Wei Ren tried several times to