Deep within Nine Nether Mountain.
Inside a palace as black as ink, Zhang Wujun sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, resting with his eyes closed and saying nothing.
The three bloody holes in his body had been sealed, but the bloodstains remained.
Ning Jiuying sat awkwardly on another prayer mat, his expression uneasy.
"Wujun, I overstepped this time. If you're upset, curse at me or punch me a few times. Just don't sit there without saying anything."
A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Wujun opened his eyes. As he looked at the bewildered Ning Jiuying, there was no anger in his gaze, only worry.
"Brother Jiu, do you know why I stabbed myself three times today?"
"Because if I hadn't, Bai Ziyin really would have killed you. Whether it's Feng Xian'er or the Heart-Exterminating Mirror, both are his reverse scales."
"Even I wouldn't dare act recklessly on Cold Moon Peak, yet you took people there in a great show of force to seize the Heart-Exterminating Mirror, and nearly killed Feng Xian'er. Leaving aside how killing her would leave the Heart-Exterminating Mirror forever submerged within the Demon Venerable, never to see daylight again, killing Feng Xian'er alone would be digging up the Danyang Sect's grave. The entire sect would hunt you down across the world. Even Nine Nether Mountain couldn't protect you."
"Even Second knew to wear a veil when she went, but you showed your true face outright. Were you trying to die without an intact corpse?"
"You've put me in a position of betraying my obligations. Even in the world below, how could I face your wife?"
Although Zhang Wujun's voice carried a bone-piercing chill, it also carried his commitment to a promise made to an old friend.
When he was young, Ning Jiuying and his wife had