The Weather's Turned Cold. It's Time for Zhang Qishan to Die!

"Fo Ye, I found Zhang Qiling. Hang on a little longer. We'll be there soon. He's the patriarch; he definitely won't leave you to die. Fo Ye, please, just hang on a little longer." Zhang Rishan sat in the car, holding Zhang Qishan and pleading with tears in his eyes. From here to Beijing, even traveling without rest and flooring the accelerator all the way into the gas tank, it would take seven hours.

He had set out as soon as he learned where Zhang Qiling was, but Zhang Qishan's transformation was speeding up.

"Fo Ye, what should I do? What am I supposed to do?! Right, I have Qilin Blood too. Even if it isn't pure, it has to work. It has to slow the transformation." Without hesitation, Zhang Rishan drew a dagger and slashed his wrist. Bright red blood immediately welled up, and he brought it to Zhang Qishan's mouth.

"Fo Ye, drink! We'll be there in two more hours. Please, drink, Fo Ye!" Blood ran over Zhang Qishan's lips and down his cheek, dripping onto his clothes. His jaw was clenched tight, and his eyes had turned completely white and were covered in red veins. He could no longer see; all he could hear was the other man pleading desperately in his ear. He refused to open his mouth. He couldn't drink his blood, he couldn't! (Author: How ironic. If you won't drink his, you'll have Zhang Qiling's flesh cut and his blood drawn!)

"No, this won't work." Zhang Rishan seized his chin with one hand and dislocated his jaw, then shoved his wrist straight into his mouth.

As the blood went in, the transformation seemed to slow. His eyes moved and focused on the man holding him.

"Ri... shan... enough..." He squeezed out the words with all his strength.

"All right, all right. Fo Ye, hang on a little longer. The patriarch will definitely save you!" With his forehead pressed against Zhang Qishan's, he hoped that someone among the gods and buddhas filling the heavens would hear his prayer.

"Patriarch, please save Fo Ye, Patriarch!" Zhang Rishan burst through the courtyard gate and knelt at the entrance, holding Zhang Qiling in his arms.

"Patriarch, please, you must have a way. There must be a way." Zhang Rishan gazed hopefully at the man in the courtyard, who was still as young and powerful as ever.

"What can you offer?" With his back to the group, Zhang Qiling half reclined in a rocking chair, someone cradled in his arms.

"As long as you can save Fo Ye, I'll agree to anything. Money, power, the New Moon Hotel, even my life-you can have it all." Holding the man, Zhang Rishan crawled forward on his knees, one step at a time.

"But you're begging me, so who can I beg? Why don't we keep each other company? Each of us holding someone-it's quite nice." Zhang Qiling rose and walked up to him, openly displaying Yu Zhi in his arms. His expression was calm, even faintly pleased, but his words were deeply eerie.

"Zhang Rishan, what do you think? Let me make it clear: I can save him. But then there'd be no one left like me. How could I allow that?" He spoke those chilling words slowly and deliberately, and despair descended on the group all at once.

Only then did they realize that Zhang Qiling was holding a dead man, a dead man dressed in a Jade Burial Suit. Horror appeared on every face.

Zhang Qiling had gone mad! The patriarch had gone mad!

"Oh, right, Rishan, hurry into a tomb and find a Jade Burial Suit. Put him inside it, and then we can sit together in this little courtyard and bask in the sun. That would be nice. Remember to hurry there and back."

Zhang Qiling gently stroked Yu Zhi's face. When he finished speaking, he couldn't resist kissing his cheek. He really did love A Li more with every passing day.

Holding his beloved in his arms like this every day was truly satisfying, a feeling he had never known before. This was his precious treasure.

Seeing this, Zhang Rishan couldn't bear the blow and fell to the ground, still clutching Zhang Qishan's body tightly.

"Ah... ah... hhh..." Zhang Qishan seemed to know that his end was near. Unable to suppress the transformation any longer, he turned into a fully formed Forbidden Woman, his nails piercing straight through Zhang Rishan's shoulder.

"I advise you to hurry and take him away. Otherwise, I don't mind cremating him for you right now." A small flame appeared at Zhang Qiling's fingertip, but everyone present could feel its searing heat and terrifying power.

The transformed Zhang Qishan had become a Forbidden Woman, and such creatures feared fire to begin with. Provoked by it, he completely lost his mind and lunged at Zhang Qiling in an instant.

With a casual flick of 'Zhang Qiling's' finger, the flame raced along his hair and set his body ablaze. In the blink of an eye, nearly half of him was gone, and he hadn't even managed to cry out. Another wave of his hand froze the flames, finally preserving half of him. "Sorry, I did that out of habit. But luckily, I left you half of him. Hurry and carry him back. I don't know what you were thinking, having the nerve to come here. Did you really think I'd lost my memory?"

"Get out! Get out now, or I'll make sure you don't even have that half left!"

Whether Zhang Rishan and the others had been frightened into submission or were genuinely afraid that even this half of Zhang Dafoye would be gone, they hurriedly took him and left.

"A Li, thank you. But I don't want you dirtying your hands for my sake, either. It hurts me to see it. Whether he lives or dies, I don't care. I only care about you."

Once again, Zhang Qiling felt that Yu Zhi had placed him tenderly in the most important place in his heart. That was right: Yu Zhi had been controlling Zhang Qiling's body just now.

"I know that, as patriarch, you don't care about the harm you suffered. You're magnanimous; you don't hold it against him. But I can't do that. I wish I could skin him alive and make him experience twenty years of having his blood drawn and his flesh cut away, endless torment." Whenever Yu Zhi thought of what Zhang Qiling had suffered in the book, he couldn't control himself. His love ran deep!

"A Li, it's all right. Having you is enough for me. Things will be even better for us from now on." Zhang Qiling felt the intensity of that love. He was so happy now he could almost bubble over-if only that fellow beside them weren't staring with eyes as wide as light bulbs!

"Get on with it. Once you're done, get lost," Zhang Qiling said to the head that had popped up over the wall.

"Mute, nicely done just now! That was very much in Xiao Yu's style. Not bad, not bad!" Hei Xiazi landed lightly in the courtyard. He had just watched a thoroughly satisfying show. Mute ought to be like this, repaying vengeance with vengeance and grievances with grievances.

Hei Xiazi was used to carrying on by himself. "Right now, apart from several families of the Nine Gates, there's also the Wang Family. They each have their own objectives, and I haven't sorted them out yet. In any case, they're mainly trying to gather information about you and find out where Xiao Yu is. But after what you did today, the whole world will know Zhang Qiling has gone mad before tomorrow!"

When he finished, he started chuckling strangely. Who knew what bizarre idea was running through his head?

Zhang Qiling couldn't be bothered with him. Having heard the useful information, he carried Yu Zhi straight back to the room, paying Hei Xiazi no regard whatsoever.

"I say, you fucking... forget it. I can't beat you, can't beat you." With that, Hei Xiazi slipped over the wall and was gone in a flash.