Where Was His Face?

Qi-Eating Ghost!

An eerie painting!

The missing Foolhardy!

The handsome yet unfathomably mysterious Zhang Yuning!

Besides, Xie Hama had once said there was a strange sect in the martial world called the Blossoming Flower Pavilion. Its disciples could bring wonders to life with their brushes, painting anything under heaven with a single brush.

Judging from the name Blossoming Flower Pavilion and what they did, this sect's work involved painting. Its male disciples were dashing and debonair, its female disciples alluring and lovely, and they cared deeply about their personal appearance.

What if all these elements were put together? A conjecture emerged in Wang Qilin's mind:

Zhang Yuning had somehow joined the Blossoming Flower Pavilion and was painting ghost paintings in the clinic.

Because Foolhardy was simple-minded, Zhang Yuning had exploited him, though they did not know what he had used Foolhardy to do, or what he had done to him now.

Xie Hama offered him a conjecture: Zhang Yuning might already have painted Foolhardy into a painting, turning him into an eerie painting!

Of course, none of this was established fact yet. They would have to uncover the truth tonight.

Earlier, Wang Qilin had said he would bring people to search the clinic tomorrow to put pressure on Zhang Yuning, making him hurry to move anything incriminating.

This was called beating the grass to startle the snake!

Before long, several hooligans arrived at the clinic, clutching their heads and covering their faces. They started clamoring as soon as they entered. Divine Physician Zhang came out, saw that they all had superficial injuries, and hurriedly brought his apprentices over to treat them.

Zhang Yuning did not appear.

Seeing this, the hooligans carried out plan B: they started fighting again inside the clinic.

Hearing the commotion, Zhang Yuning finally hurried out of his bedroom.

Wang Qilin and the other two immediately slipped over the wall.

Zhang Yuning's bedroom was not far ahead.

The door stood half-closed, with a lantern hanging outside.

The night breeze rocked the lantern, and the light inside swayed as well.

Wang Qilin lowered his head to look at his shadow.

His shadow lengthened and shortened, shifting left and right.

Memories of his first overnight stay at the clinic welled up in his mind.

He suddenly remembered the lanterns that had lit themselves without anyone lighting them, so he tugged at Xie Hama and told him in a low voice.

Xie Hama thought for a moment, took out a sheet of yellow ritual paper, and folded it into a crane. Then he bit his middle finger, dotted two eyes onto it, and hastily inscribed a talisman.

Then he formed a deity-invoking hand seal and rapidly chanted, "A sheet of paper in human hands, a mountain in ghostly eyes. Across a thousand mountains fly, a hundred birds delight at will. Go!"

The yellow paper crane fluttered its wings and took flight, first soaring above the lantern, then slowly descending.

Wang Qilin watched the lantern intently. A slender little hand vaguely emerged from inside, reaching to grab the yellow paper crane...

"Hiss... what's going on?"

Xie Hama was just about to explain when a gust of night wind happened to blow past.

The lantern swayed, and the paper crane caught fire, setting the red lantern ablaze along with it.

Now Xie Hama had no time to answer. He whispered, "Get onto the roof, quickly! This is our chance!"

Wang Qilin suppressed his questions and, using Xu Da's shoulder, leaped quietly and nimbly onto the roof.

Xie Hama had trouble walking, yet he climbed the wall quickly, scrambling onto the roof like a gecko in just a few movements.

Xu Da climbed back over the wall and jumped outside.

He was the support unit today.

With the lantern burning, Zhang Yuning soon returned.

It was late in the third month. The moon curved like a bowstring, and the night was not particularly clear.

He raised his head and scanned the walls. Moonlight shone on his face, giving his delicate features a sinister, cold look.

Someone ran up behind him and asked, "Brother Ning, what happened?"

Zhang Yuning lowered his head. "Nothing. The lantern burned."

The other man said casually, "There was a strong gust just now. It probably rocked the lantern, tipped the candle over, and set it alight. One of the lanterns at the entrance burned too."

Zhang Yuning said, "Really? I'll go take a look."

Once the two figures disappeared, Xie Hama crawled over to Wang Qilin and whispered, "He definitely has ties to the Blossoming Flower Pavilion. All the lanterns in this clinic are paper lanterns with little skin ghosts painted inside. They can light the lanterns and watch the surroundings."

Wang Qilin understood. "So it wasn't Zhang Yuning who spotted me today, but the little ghost in the lantern?"

"Yes."

"But we had the Ice Plant Beads in our mouths that day. Why didn't we spot these little ghosts?"

"Little skin ghosts don't really count as ghosts. They're formed from children's souls that have wandered astray. They're very weak-even chickens and ducks aren't afraid of them-and they have hardly any yin energy."

Wang Qilin nodded.

Having an elder around really was damn useful.

He found a place to hide, lifted a roof tile, and picked away the sealing mud to make a gap. Then he pressed one eye to it-

An oil lamp flickered fitfully below.

Zhang Yuning's bedroom was spacious, divided into several areas by screens.

Wang Qilin remembered that Zhang Yuning had been at the desk before leaving, so he located the desk and crawled over.

Looking down from above, he could see a painting on the desk depicting a tabby cat. Its eyes were wide open and its front paws raised, as if it were about to pounce on something.

It was extraordinarily realistic, lifelike in every detail.

The clamor in the front courtyard gradually subsided. Light footsteps sounded outside, and Zhang Yuning returned to the room.

After entering, he first went to each window and removed a small slip of paper. Only after seeing that none of the slips had shifted did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Up on the roof, Wang Qilin was secretly alarmed. This pretty boy was cautious.

Next, Zhang Yuning lifted the bed boards and began rummaging around, taking out one rolled painting after another.

Clearly, Wang Qilin's little scheme had worked. This fellow was preparing to move everything overnight.

After taking out all the scrolls, Zhang Yuning unrolled one and hung it on the wall.

Wang Qilin looked closely. It was a self-portrait, showing Zhang Yuning in flowing white robes, holding a folding fan as he went on a spring outing.

The portrait was even more realistic. The figure on the paper had raised one leg to step onto the grass, as though he could walk out of the painting with his next step.

After gathering his things, Zhang Yuning stood before the desk, picked up his brush, and began painting again. He continued working on the picture of the pouncing cat, then picked it up to admire it when he finished. Then he shook his head and tore it to pieces.

As the painting was torn apart, Wang Qilin faintly heard a cat's cry from below.

Creepy!

Inside the room, Zhang Yuning sat down and began staring blankly at the desk.

Things grew dull. With nothing to do, Wang Qilin looked into his sea of consciousness. The Furnace of Creation had already refined the five Nine-Herb Great Replenishing Pills into Heavenly Official's Blessing Pills, so he took them out and tucked them into his robes.

Unfortunately, this was not a good time to take them, or he could have gained another few years of internal energy.

After staring into space for a while, Zhang Yuning got up and opened a screen. It had a hidden compartment, with more paintings inside.

He took out a painting and looked at it for a while, then sighed. "I have to act soon. I'm running out of time!"

After muttering a few words, he placed the painting on the desk. Wang Qilin looked closely, only to find that it was not a painting at all, but a blank sheet of paper!

Zhang Yuning then took down two of the paintings hanging on the wall and began painting over them, but after adding to each one, he shook his head in dissatisfaction and tore it up.

When one landscape painting was torn apart, Wang Qilin saw a stream of water fall to the floor.

It was nearly midnight. Zhang Yuning checked the sky, stood before the desk, and picked up a brush. Then he closed his eyes and began resting his mind.

There was little furniture in the spacious room. The night wind slipped through the window cracks and swirled around inside with a low howl.

The candle flame, no bigger than a bean sprout, danced incessantly.

Wang Qilin happened to glance at Zhang Yuning's self-portrait on the wall. In the picture, he was standing on the grass, about to walk forward.

No!

Earlier, the figure had taken a step, but that foot hadn't yet touched the grass!

At that moment, Zhang Yuning, who had remained silent all this time, began wielding his brush. With swift, sinuous strokes, he painted a face with thick brows, large eyes, and a broad, simple-minded grin.

Once he finished, he picked it up to look at it, then put the picture down and casually set something else down as well.

Wang Qilin instinctively assumed he had put down his brush.

But when he took another look-

It was a face!

It was none other than Zhang Yuning's face!

Every hair on Wang Qilin's body stood on end. The Qi-Eating Ghost, Zhang Yuning's self-portrait, his uncontrollable facial expressions during the day...

The truth surfaced...

The instant he grasped the truth, the roof shook and tiles shattered. Xie Hama abruptly struck. "How dare you, fiend!"

Before his voice rang out, a fire talisman had already flown forth.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Yuning reached for the face while instinctively tilting his head up.

The blank face Wang Qilin had expected did not appear.

What Wang Qilin saw tilted upward was the back of a head!