"You hold to your own views without being rigid, fellow Daoist. Interesting, interesting."
Huang Que froze briefly at those words, then laughed heartily.
"Fellow Daoist Huang Que, could that fox spirit tonight have been your handiwork?"
Xu Taiping looked at Huang Que, his eyes full of suspicion.
The man's affiliation with the Immortal Law Bureau had not made him lower his guard.
"What fox spirit? Was there a fox spirit here? Your eyes must have played tricks on you, fellow Daoist."
Huang Que chuckled, then cupped his hands toward Xu Taiping.
"Since you insist on going, Fellow Daoist Taiping, we shall meet at Furious Fist Manor."
With that, his figure flickered and vanished into the night.
"There's something very wrong with this man."
Watching Huang Que's departing figure, Xu Taiping murmured to himself.
Several days later.
Inside Misty Rain Pavilion beside Mirror Lake in Huangmei Town.
"Daoist Taiping, that over there is Fan Qi's Furious Fist Manor."
Standing inside Misty Rain Pavilion, the Sixth Princess raised her hand to point at the manor shrouded in misty rain across the lake, then turned to Xu Taiping and spoke.
Xu Taiping nodded.
Their party had arrived in Huangmei Town several days earlier.
But to avoid attracting attention, she had only come out to walk around town with Xu Taiping today.
"The Life-and-Death Arena at Furious Fist Manor is tomorrow. Why not head back early and rest, Daoist Priest? I'll have General Chu and Cao Qianhu keep an eye on things at the manor."
Seeing that Xu Taiping looked somewhat unwell, the Sixth Princess spoke with concern.
"I'm fine. Let's look around the streets a little longer."
Xu Taiping shook his head with a smile, offering no further explanation.
Last night, he had just filled his first aperture with turbid qi. With