Something Fishy in This Coincidence; If We Kill the Wrong Ones, So Be It

Morning fog blanketed Toad Shoal. The fishy, salty river wind was damp and cold, while massive ships passed by from time to time.

Hearing the commotion, the laborers on the shoal instinctively looked up. Their numb eyes often brightened at the sight, only to dim again moments later as they lowered their heads and stopped watching the huge vessels.

Fang Shu stepped across the wet sand and arrived at a ferry landing on time.

A medium-sized vessel, some ten zhang long, was already moored there. Its entire hull had been crafted from black ironwood and gleamed with a dark luster. Its ram was shaped like a bull's horn, and simple water-calming patterns had been carved across its surface.

When he arrived, crates of goods were being unloaded from the ship. The deckhands said that the vessel had arrived late and had not yet finished unloading, asking him to wait at the landing for a while.

Thus, beneath the ship, he spotted the two fellow disciples who would be traveling down the mountain with him.

Ling Bai Lang sat broad and commanding beneath the canopy, chatting with someone draped in a black robe whose features were obscured. When the two saw another person approaching, they immediately raised their eyes to examine him.

Ling Bai Lang called out brightly, "What a coincidence. Fellow Daoist Fang, are you heading down the mountain to visit family too?"

The black-robed man also nodded toward Fang Shu. "Greetings, Brother Fang."

Fang Shu wore a faint smile as he greeted the two. The black-robed man was Black Mouse of Black Tiger Hall. After advancing to a Qi Refining disciple, he had resumed his former mysterious mannerisms.

Though the three had known each other before and had even shared a room, their relationship was ordinary at best. In