And this was precisely one of the reasons Shi Chun hesitated. He was trying to figure out how to get Zhen'er to go alone. After all, he had already promised to help remove the restriction and free her.
"Uh..." Wu Jinliang choked a little. How would he dare go to the Old Monster's lair with her? He asked suspiciously, "Even you have to find a way to negotiate with the guards to get in. How could they possibly let us in?"
Zhen'er said, "There's one way we could try."
Naturally, Wu Jinliang had to ask, "What way?"
Zhen'er said, "A marriage proposal."
"What?"
"Huh?"
Wu Jinliang and Shi Chun made strange noises at the same time.
Then Wu Jinliang asked again, "A marriage proposal? What marriage proposal?"
Zhen'er looked at Shi Chun expectantly. "Ask the Tower Master for my hand in marriage."
The two brothers seemed to understand. This might have something to do with a certain fellow named Shi. Wu Jinliang turned toward Shi Chun and pointed at him. "He's supposed to propose?"
Shi Chun thought that was a pointless question. He asked as well, "Who's the Tower Master?"
Both men asked at once, and Zhen'er chose without hesitation to answer Shi Chun's question first. "The First Lord in the tower."
Seeing confusion in both brothers' eyes, she explained, "The tower has nine floors, with a guard imprisoned on each one. They were all very powerful fire spirits back then. Before the humans came, none of them had names. After they were imprisoned in the tower, Chen named them One through Nine. One is the First Lord, and he's also the most powerful being in the tower.
"After I took human form, the First Lord appeared and met me. While we were talking, the subject of men and women