I Don't Think You Need to Go Back!

The woman beckoned a maid over and had her lead the two of them up to an elegant room on the third floor.

A table of exquisite wine and dishes had already been prepared in the private room. When Bai Zhixing saw the two arrive, he rose to greet them, cupping his fists and exchanging pleasantries.

Chen Jing briefly introduced Cheng Qingshi and Bai Zhixing to each other, and the two traded a few polite words.

Bai Zhixing brought up the past incident when Chen Jing and Wang Chong had saved him in the mountain ditch, and sighed with emotion all over again.

The three drank a cup together. Chen Jing set down his wine cup and cut to the point.

"Brother Bai, there is something I have always had doubts about."

"That time last month when you ran into Clear Wind Stronghold's ambush, did your White Horse Pharmacy look into it carefully afterward? Was it truly a coincidence?"

The smile on Bai Zhixing's face vanished in an instant.

He was silent for a moment. "I won't hide it from Brother Chen. That shipment of medicinal herbs had an extremely secret itinerary. What was being transported, which road we were taking, when we were setting out—only people inside the pharmacy knew."

"The people of Clear Wind Stronghold could not possibly have known in advance that batch of medicinal herbs would pass along that road, unless someone leaked the information to them."

He gave a bitter smile. "Unfortunately, my father investigated it rigorously several times. Account books, letters, personnel dealings—he turned everything upside down, but still never found the person who leaked the news."

"Then did you investigate Shopkeeper Zhou Yunhan?"

Chen Jing looked straight into Bai Zhixing's eyes.

Bai Zhixing froze for a moment, and then his expression changed slightly.

Chen Jing did not conceal anything.

He told him, one by one, about being ambushed last night, the deductions made by everyone from Lianshan Martial Arts Hall, Zhou Fan's grudge against him, and Zhou Yunhan's identity as Zhou Fan's father.

By the time Bai Zhixing finished listening, his face had turned livid.

He slammed a fist onto the table, making the cups and plates clatter.

"Shopkeeper Zhou is an old hand who has followed my father for more than ten years. My father trusts him greatly, and many important affairs of the pharmacy are handed over to him to manage."

"Why would he do this?"

Chen Jing and Cheng Qingshi exchanged a glance. It seemed this matter was already eight or nine parts certain.

"That is something you will have to ask yourself, Brother Bai."

Bai Zhixing picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and murmured, "Zhou Yunhan has been the head shopkeeper for more than ten years. In the pharmacy, he stands below one man and above ten thousand."

"Perhaps he has grown used to the days when what he says goes in the pharmacy. Now my father intends for me to gradually take over the pharmacy's affairs."

"That means some of the authority Zhou Yunhan originally monopolized will inevitably be taken back and placed in my hands."

"He fears being hollowed out, going from a head shopkeeper whose word is law to a dispensable ornament."

Chen Jing nodded.

"That motive makes perfect sense. As long as you die, White Horse Pharmacy will have no successor, and he can still turn his hand for clouds and overturn it for rain as he pleases."

Bai Zhixing was silent for a long time.

The anger on his face slowly became a kind of weariness and disappointment.

He picked up his wine cup, drained the remaining wine in one gulp, then let out a long breath.

"Many thanks for telling me, Brother Chen."

"After I return, I will discuss this matter with my father."

Suddenly, the door to the private room opened.

Zhou Yunhan stood in the doorway in a brocade robe, his face dark and gloomy.

Beside him followed two burly men, both with bulging temples and thick, powerful hands.

Outside the private room, dense footsteps sounded in the corridor. Shadowy figures were cast across the doors and windows, like a tangle of restless ghost-shadows.

"Worthy Nephew Bai, I think there is no need for you to go back."

"Come with me to Clear Wind Stronghold."

Bai Zhixing turned pale with shock and shot to his feet. "Zhou Yunhan! This is Hundred Flowers Pavilion. You actually dare make a move here?"

Zhou Yunhan laughed coldly, the corner of his mouth pulling into a disdainful curve.

"Worthy Nephew must have forgotten. I, Zhou Yunhan, have operated in Green Mountain City for more than ten years, and am the dignified head shopkeeper of White Horse Pharmacy."

"Our young master is discussing important matters on the third floor. All unrelated persons are forbidden from entering. The shopkeeper of Hundred Flowers Pavilion would not deny me this bit of face."

"Now the entire third floor is filled with my people."

"You three."

"Do you still intend to put up a cornered beast's futile struggle?"

His gaze slowly swept over Chen Jing's and Cheng Qingshi's faces, as if he were looking at two dead men. Then he roared, "Take them down!"

The words had barely fallen.

The two burly men beside Zhou Yunhan suddenly lunged out.

Cheng Qingshi did not move his feet. His spine snapped straight, his whole body suddenly springing up as he blasted out a punch!

Chen Jing likewise stayed where he was. He reached back and touched the hilt, and the Butcher Knife at his lower back rang out with a clang as it abruptly left its sheath.

One big man staggered backward, his back slamming into the wall. He stared at Cheng Qingshi, a flash of horror crossing his eyes.

"What a heavy fist... You've trained to Blood Exchange!"

The other big man gave a miserable scream, clutching his blood-drenched wrist, leaving an entire hand behind.

The composure on Zhou Yunhan's face shattered in an instant.

He instinctively took half a step back, only then finding the chance to carefully size up the two young men standing before Bai Zhixing.

One had fist force as fierce as a tiger; the other's blade was so fast it was almost impossible to see. Fine beads of sweat seeped out across his forehead, and his voice rose half a pitch without him realizing it.

"You... who are you!"

Bai Zhixing, who had already panicked so badly that half his body had burrowed under the table, saw Cheng Qingshi and Chen Jing display their might. He actually crawled back out from beneath the table, wiped away his sweat, and straightened his back again.

Chen Jing grinned. The blood on the Butcher Knife had yet to dry, dripping drop by drop down the blade onto the blue bricks.

"Shopkeeper Zhou, did Zhou Fan not mention us to you?"

"I am Chen Jing of Lianshan Martial Arts Hall."

"And this is my Fourth Senior Brother, Cheng Qingshi."

Zhou Yunhan was stunned.

Of course he had heard that name!

Chen Jing, that butcher who had dragged his son down and gotten him thrown out of Lianshan Martial Arts Hall! The muscles on his face twitched twice, and he roared in a fury.

"It was because of you! Everything this old man has accumulated over more than ten years is about to go up in a torch's flame! Get him! Kill him!"

With a crash, more than a dozen blade-wielders swarmed in.

The private room had never been spacious to begin with, and in an instant it was filled with gleaming steel blades. More men blocked the doorway behind them.

They sealed the path of retreat tight as an iron barrel.

Outside in the corridor, the sound of footsteps kept multiplying. Shadows shifted in a blur; there had to be at least several dozen men.

Chen Jing and Cheng Qingshi exchanged a glance.

Both saw the gravity in the other's eyes.

Though the two of them possessed high martial strength, they were surrounded by more than a dozen men in this cramped private room, and they still had to protect Bai Zhixing, who had not the slightest martial ability. One moment of carelessness, and all three of them would end up explaining their lives here.

But the other side gave them no time to think.

More than a dozen blade-wielders surged forward like a tide.

Cheng Qingshi slapped the edge of the round table with one palm, and the hundred-jin pearwood table thundered sideways through the air.

The tabletop, carrying cups, plates, bowls, and dishes, smashed head-on into the men charging at the front, knocking them into a jumble of overturned bodies.

Chen Jing grabbed a pearwood grandmaster chair, twisted his waist and turned his hips, poured all his strength into it, and hurled it viciously at the window.

With a tremendous bang, the carved window lattice shattered at the impact. Wood splinters flew everywhere, and cold wind poured in through the breach.

"Out the window! Move along the eaves!"

Chen Jing was practically roaring. With a backhand motion, his Butcher Knife had already plunged into a man's chest.

Bai Zhixing knew this was a matter of life and death.

Though his legs were trembling, he still gritted his teeth and staggered out the window, landing on all fours and inching little by little along the slanted glazed-tile eaves.